#it's as close to “running your own site” as comic hosting can get

[genericpuff]

Tbh at this point you should just make your own webcomic app/website because it would probably be 100 times better than whatever going on with webtoon right now.

hahaha it wouldn't tho, sorry 💀

Here's the fundamental issue with webcomic platforms that a lot of people just don't realize (and why they're so difficult to run successfully):

Storage costs are incredibly expensive, it's why so many sites have limitations on file sizes / page sizes / etc. because all of those images and site info have to be stored somewhere, which costs $$$.

Maintenance costs are expensive and get more so as you grow, you need people who are capable of fixing bugs ASAP and managing the servers and site itself

Financially speaking, webcomics are in a state of high supply, low demand. Loads of artists are willing to create their passion projects, but getting people to read them and pay for them is a whole other issue. Demand is high in the general sense that once people get attached to a webtoon they'll demand more, but many people aren't actually willing to go looking for new stuff to read and depend more on what sites feed them (and what they already like). There are a lot of comics to go around and thus a lot of competition with a limited audience of people willing to actually pay for them.

Trying to build a new platform from the ground up is incredibly difficult and a majority of sites fail within their first year. Not only do you have to convince artists to take a chance on your platform, you have to convince readers to come. Readers won't come if there isn't work on the platform to read, but artists won't come if they don't think the site will be worth it due to low traffic numbers. This is why the artists with large followings who are willing to take chances on the smaller sites are crucial, but that's only if you can convince them to use the site in favor of (or alongside) whatever platform they're using already where the majority of their audience lies. For many creators it's just not worth the time, energy, or risk.

Even if you find short-term success, in the long-term there are always going to be profit margins to maintain. The more users you pull in, the more storage is used by incoming artists, the more you have to spend on storage and server maintenance costs, and that means either taking the risk at crowdfunding (ex. ComicFury) or having to resort to outsider investments (ex. Tapas). Look at SmackJeeves, it used to be a titan in the independent webcomic hosting community, until it folded over to a buyout by NHN and then was pretty much immediately shuttered due to NHN basically turning it into a manwha scanlation site and driving away its entire userbase. And if you don't get bought out and try your hand at crowdfunding, you may just wind up living on a lifeline that could cut out at any moment, like what happened to Inkblazers (fun fact, the death of Inkblazers was what kicked off the cultural shift in Tapas around 2015-16 when all of IB's users migrated over and brought their work with them which was more aimed towards the BL and romancee drama community, rather than the comedy / gag-a-day culture that Tapas had made itself known for... now you deadass can't tell Tapas apart from a lot of scanlation sites because it got bought out by Kakao and kept putting all of its eggs into the isekai/romance drama basket.)

Right now the mindset in which artists and readers are operating is that they're trying way, way too hard to find a "one size fits all" site. Readers want a place where they can find all their favorite webtoons without much effort, artists wants a place where they can post to an audience of thousands, and both sides want a community that will feel tight-knit. But the reality is that you can't really have all three of those things, not on one site. Something always winds up having to be sacrificed - if a site grows big enough, it'll have to start seeking more funding while also cutting costs which will result in features becoming paywall'd, intrusive ads, creators losing their freedom, and/or outsider support which often results in the platform losing its core identity and alienating its tight-knit community.

If I had to describe what I'm talking about in a "pick one" graphic, it would look something like this:

(*note: this is mostly based on my own observations from using all of these sites at some point or another, they're not necessarily entirely accurate to the statistical performance of each site, I can only glean so much from experience and traffic trackers LMAO that said I did ask some comic pals for input and they were very helpful in helping me adjust it with their own takes <3).

The homogenization of the Internet has really whipped people into submission for the "big sites" that offer "everything", but that's never been the Internet, it relies on being multi-faceted and offering different spaces for different purposes. And we're seeing that ideology falter through the enshittification of sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. where users are at odds with the platforms because the platforms are gutting features in an attempt to satisfy shareholders whom without the platforms would not exist. Like, most of us aren't paying money to use social media sites / comic platform sites, so where else are they gonna make the necessary funds to keep these sites running? Selling ad space and locking features behind paywalls.

And this is especially true for a lot of budding sites that don't have the audience to support them via crowdfunding but also don't have the leverage to ask for investments - so unless they get really REALLY lucky in EITHER of those departments, they're gonna be operating at a loss, and even once they do achieve either of those things there are gonna be issues in the site's longevity, whether it be dying from lack of growing crowdfunding support or dying from shareholder meddling.

So what can we do?

We can learn how to take our independence back. We don't have to stop using these big platforms altogether as they do have things to offer in their own way, particularly their large audience sizes and dipping into other demographics that might not be reachable from certain sites - but we gotta learn that no single site is going to satisfy every wish we have and we have to be willing to learn the skills necessary to running our own spaces again. Pick up HTML/CSS, get to know other people who know HTML/CSS if you can't grasp it (it's me, I can't grasp it LOL), be willing to take a chance on those "smaller sites" and don't write them off entirely as spaces that can be beneficial to you just because they don't have large numbers or because they don't offer rewards programs. And if you have a really polished piece of work in your hands, look into agencies and publishing houses that specialize in indie comics / graphic novels, don't settle for the first Originals contract that gets sent your way.

For the last decade corporations have been convincing us that our worth is tied to the eyes we can bring to them. Instead of serving ourselves, we've begun serving the big guys, insisting that it has to be worth something eventually and that it'll "payoff" simply by the virtue of gambler's fallacy. Ask yourself what site is right for you and your work rather than asking yourself if your work is good enough for them. Most of us are broke trying to make it work on these sites anyways, may as well be broke and fulfilled by posting in places that actually suit us and our work if we can. Don't define your success by what sites like Webtoons are enforcing - that definition only benefits them, not you.

[comicaurora]

With the ubiquity of Webtoons, it is apparently becoming less and less feasible for an author to start up a webcomic that they host themself and then actually garner and audience. How do you feel about the possibility that, supposing you are able to sustain Aurora to completion, 10 years from now Aurora might be one of the last of the traditional style?

Oh, I doubt that. If by "traditional style" you mean "one complete print-ready page at a time", infinite-scroller one-panel-at-a-time comics are a completely different animal, stylistically speaking. It's more like a reel of film or an animatic you scroll through than a comic. There are things you can do with it that you can't do with traditional paneling, and things you can do with traditional paneling you can't do with that. It's a "two cakes" situation - a functionally distinct art form with different strengths and weaknesses. Just look at what a webtoon looks like when it's printed in book form - all those straight-line panels have to be cut up and floated onto a single page.

It's not a style you favor if printing is a consideration from the get-go, like with some of the oldest webcomics that originally made the jump from traditional publishing to the much-less-annoying world of online distribution. They panels fit together because that's what they were meant to do, it leaves less empty space on the page and it's overall a smoother transition from online to print because the pages are basically already done.

And if "traditional style" means "independently run," well, comics and webcomics have, to my knowledge, always been a largely unprofitable venture for the individual creator, at least until physical book sales and merch enter the equation, and the question "how do I get people to read my webcomic" was never an easy one to answer - it hasn't gotten more difficult with time. Conglomerates like Webtoons and Hiveworks give creators an easier answer to that question by providing centralized hosting and advertising, but the mechanisms that made early webcomics work haven't appreciably changed. Anyone can buy a domain name, plug in some Wordpress tools and go to town, same as they could back in 2005. I'd say it hasn't gotten less feasible to be independent, it's just that sticking with a conglomerate is a (theoretically) simpler route to views and success that didn't exist in the early days of the 'net.

And the thing is, that doesn't mean they're better for everyone. If a conglomerate tool existed that would've let me make my comic site exactly how I wanted it to - with spaces for lore, maps, additional content, etc - I probably would've done that instead of starting from scratch, since lots of the backend structuring work would've already been done for me. But Webtoons comics are, as mentioned, completely stylistically different from mine, and Hiveworks submissions are closed, plus they design their own site for you and also lock themselves in as your publisher. I personally don't like it when other people take creative control out of my hands, and there are plenty of artists that feel the same way.

If anything, the rise of social media and the centralization of the net into things like twitter and reddit (and even tumblr) makes it theoretically simpler to get your independent comic noticed than back in the wild west early days, because now you know where a potential audience for your work is hanging out. Back in the old days I don't even remember how I found some of the comics I read religiously - maybe TVTropes links, thinking about it? But that was basically all they had for discoverability! From my perspective it's only gotten easier to get the word out about a project you're working on, and while part of that is because there are now large hosting platforms that comic artists can sign onto, part of it is a level of interconnectedness that has only grown with time that allows the work of independent creators to be discovered, shared and spread faster than ever.

[girlactionfigure]

Only when he got older he realized just how fortunate he and his family were to be alive.

“The extermination of most of his relatives and millions of other Jews by the Nazis; the intrusive, unemployed immigrants who survived and crowded his parents’ small apartment; his sickly childhood; his mother’s dark moods; his own ever-present depression” - all of this, he survived, according to Patricia Cohen of The New York Times.

He was born in Brooklyn to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents on June 10, 1928.

One of his earliest photographs (attached to this story) shows him as an infant - “a plump, round-faced, slanting-eyed, droopy-lidded, arching-browed creature” held by his mother, with his older siblings, according to writer Margalit Fox.

Growing up, Murray as he was then known “har­bored ongo­ing fear of the per­ils that might lurk out­side of his home and neigh­bor­hood” and remembered how he cel­e­brat­ed his bar mitz­vah, according to writer Stephen Whit­field. 

That's when his father discovered that much of his extended family had died in concentration camps. The young boy thought he had "done something very bad, that I had made him suffer more than he had to."

“The death of members of his extended family during the Holocaust . . . exposed him at a young age to the concept of mortality,” according to NPR.

“As he got old­er, he was con­stant­ly aware of his mar­gin­al­i­ty and dif­fer­ence,” wrote Whit­field.

He seemed to be always sick, but when he was well, he could be naughty. He remembered his mother often called him “vilde chaya”, which in Yiddish meant "wild animal".

“His view of the outside world was often limited. . . and the little that he could see from his window,” according to PBS. “It was during this time that he began to draw and to allow his imagination to run free.”

He made a name for himself as an illustrator. When he received an opportunity to write his first book, he used the title "Where the Wild Horses Are" - unfortunately, he realized he couldn't draw horses, so he told his editor. His editor would respond, "Well, what can you draw?"

He would answer "Things."

He would become “the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century, who wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche,” according to the New York Times.

He remembers receiving a letter from one fan:

In an interview with NPR, he is quoted as saying, “A little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children's letters – sometimes very hastily – but this one I lingered over . . . I wrote, 'Dear Jim: I loved your card.' Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said: 'Jim loved your card so much he ate it.' That to me was one of the highest compliments I've ever received . . . He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.”

~~~~~

“Maurice Sendak has been one of the most consistently inventive and challenging voices in children’s literature,” according to PBS. “His books and productions are among the best-loved imaginative works of their time. Like the Grimm brothers before him, Sendak has created a body of work both entertaining and educational, which will continue to be popular for generations.”

“Roundly praised, intermittently censored and occasionally eaten, Mr. Sendak’s books were essential ingredients of childhood for the generation born after 1960 or thereabouts, and in turn for their children,” wrote Fox. “He was known in particular for more than a dozen picture books he wrote and illustrated himself, most famously ‘Where the Wild Things Are,’ which was simultaneously genre-breaking and career-making when it was published by Harper & Row in 1963.”

He brought “to life a world of fantasy and imagination,” according to PBS. “His unique vision is loved around the globe by both young and old.”

When he died in 2012, the Washington Post wrote:

“They say that a creative adult is simply a child who has survived. Sendak survived a great deal, losing relatives in the Holocaust and struggling through a childhood that he remembered as “a very passionate, upsetting, silly, comic business.”

“And his books captured this — never talking down, yet always reassuring.

“The best writers are the ones who trust their audiences. Sendak did. And we trusted him right back.

“Sendak did not lie to children. He did not attempt to say that the world was more or less difficult than it was.”

~~~~~

In 2008 in the New York Times, Sendak revealed that he was gay and had lived with his partner, psychoanalyst Eugene Glynn (February 25, 1926 – May 15, 2007), for 50 years before Glynn's death in May 2007.

In that article, Sendak said he never told his parents: "All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy," he recalled. "They never, never, never knew."

In a 2011 interview with NPR host Terry Gross, Mr. Sendak said "finding out that I was gay when I was older was a shock and a disappointment. I did not want to be gay. It meant a whole different thing to me — which is really hard to recover now because that's many years ago. I always objected to it because there is a part of me that is solid Brooklyn and solid conventional and I know that. I can't escape that. It's my genetic makeup. It's who I am."

Elisabeth Hoffman of the Baltimore Sun wrote, “Why do we pass laws that isolate, demean and shame people for something so utterly personal? It's no surprise that gay teens are bullied. No surprise that Maurice Sendak had to hide part of his identity from his parents — and from his readers.”

“In that often emotional NPR interview, Sendak also said: "I have nothing now but praise for my life. I'm not unhappy. I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can't stop them. They leave me and I love them more. What I dread is the isolation. There are so many beautiful things in the world which I will have to leave when I die. But I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready."

~~~~~

“His work . . . did not seek to for­get the emo­tion­al threats that scarred his life,” wrote Whit­field. “Sendak’s rec­ol­lec­tions of dread and dan­ger instead became the source of a painstak­ing cre­ativ­i­ty that [Golan Y.] Moskowitz [author of “Wild Vision­ary: Mau­rice Sendak in Queer Jew­ish Context”] read­i­ly calls illus­tra­tions of ​“genius.” Sendak believed that his fan­tasies must instill truths, rather than con­firm the con­ven­tions of inno­cence, and this think­ing rev­o­lu­tion­ized the way that young peo­ple were under­stood and addressed.”

In that last interview with NPR, “the beloved children’s writer and illustrator was 83 years old and in declining health. He was feeling the loss of people close to him who had died in recent years. Inevitably, the discussion turned to issues of mortality … By the time it was over there were teary-eyed people in cars all across North America. One listener, Brent Eades, left a message on the NPR Web site: “I happened to be listening to this extraordinary interview while on the early-morning commute from my small Ontario town to Ottawa. I was entirely absorbed in it; and the final couple of minutes left me with tears streaming down my face, which I’m sure nonplussed my fellow commuters.”

~~~~~

In “Where the Wild Things Are”, Sendak wrote:

“ . . . the wild things cried, “Oh please don’t go we’ll eat you up-we love you so!”

And Max said, “No!”

The wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth

and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws

but Max stepped into his private boat and waved good-bye

and sailed back over a year

and in and out of weeks

and through a day

and into the night of his very own room

where he found his supper waiting for him.”

~ jsr

The Jon S. Randal Peace Page

[starspangledbigbang]

Welcome to the 2021 Star Spangled Big Bang!

The Star Spangled Big Bang is a chance for writers and artists to collaborate and create stories paired with artwork, all of which will focus on the members of Team Cap from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Authors sign up to write stories that are 10k words or longer. Artists then claim stories and create art inspired by them. Creations may be canon, canon divergent, or AU. They must be centered around at least one character from the MCU’s Team Cap/Cap Quartet. All pairings as well as gen fic are welcome.

Friday 5 March - Author & Artist sign-ups open

Friday 2 April - Author sign-ups close

Friday 21 May - Author Check-in

Friday 4 June - Artist sign-ups close, Author summaries due (5k of fic complete)

Sunday 6 June - Author summaries available for preview

Friday 11 June - Claims open, Partnerships announced

Friday 2 July - Author & Artist Check-in #1

Friday 9 July Sat 17 July - Beta Claims

Friday 6 August - Author & Artist Check-in #2, Posting Date Claims

September - Posting period

Content Guidelines

Every creation must be centered around one or more characters from the MCU’s Team Cap or the Cap Quartet. This includes Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanov, Bucky Barnes, Clint Barton, Scott Lang, Wanda Maximoff, and Sharon Carter.

Any and all ratings are welcome, as well any setting, be it canon, canon divergent, or AU. Authors will be able to outline their preferences on rating, do-not-wants, and collaboration interest level if desired so that artists may take that into consideration when choosing what stories they’d like to collab with. 

Please be mindful of portraying marginalized communities respectfully. This page from Writing With Color has a list of blogs and resources that discuss diversity in writing. Any creations that sympathetically portray hate groups or actively promote racism, transphobia, homophobia, etc. will not be accepted.

All fics must be edited, beta read, and legible. All content must be thoroughly and appropriately tagged.

Code of Conduct 

Please be respectful of your fellow participants, including your mods. This event is designed to be inclusive regarding characters, ships, kinks, etc. and therefore we will not allow kinkshaming or ship/character bashing within event spaces. We are a diverse community and will not tolerate any racism, transphobia, homophobia, harassment, or general inappropriate behavior towards the mods or your fellow participants.

We want to ensure that all participants have a comfortable experience within the event. If your content or conduct does not align with the guidelines and the spirit of the bang, we will do everything possible to foster conversation and resolve the issue on a case-by-case basis. However, the final decision on how to proceed will ultimately be up to the mods. Please remember that the mods are fans just like you, doing this for fun in their spare time to share more Team Cap love.

What sort of content am I committing to if I sign up?

Authors will be required to create one original, cohesive story with a minimum of 10k words (no maximum). Artists will claim one or more stories (depending on the number of sign ups we receive, as well as artist interest) and create one piece inspired by that story. Each collab team will be required to create a banner for the master post as well.

What sort of artwork is acceptable?

All art must be visual, original art. By original art, we mean that the final product must be an original product of the artist. Using photos for reference is fine, and you can use whatever traditional or digital medium you require, so long as the art starts and finishes as your own product. Photo manips are allowed as long as they have been significantly edited, via Photoshop or other programs, to clearly resemble original art. Hit up the mods if you need clarity on an idea.

What ships are allowed?

Any prominent ships featured must include one or more characters from the MCU’s Team Cap or the Cap Quartet (Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanov, Bucky Barnes, Clint Barton, Scott Lang, Wanda Maximoff, and Sharon Carter.) They may be paired with any other characters, but the Team Cap character(s) should be the main focus of the story. Other than that note, we welcome any and all ships for the main pairings, including polyamorous ships, queerplatonic ships, and genfic. All side pairings are welcome as well.

What canons & universes are allowed?

Any canon or universe is allowed as long as it features one of the specified Team Cap characters. This includes any movies, comic runs, cartoons, etc. as well as non-canon AUs. So, if you wanted to write Planet Hulk Steve or Avengers Assemble Natasha or mermaid Sam, that’s perfectly acceptable!

Are there any age restrictions for participation?

Sorry, but yes. You’ve got to be 18 or over to participate.

Can I use a work that I’ve published previously, or that’s been sitting in my drafts for 3 years?

For this fest, we need all original content, none of which has been published previously. That being said, authors, if you’ve got an outline or a draft that’s been hanging around your WIP folder for too long, now’s the perfect time to dust it off and finish it! Since the art is meant to be inspired by the story, artists must start their work from scratch.

What if a friend and I want to work together?

Writing teams are welcome, but since claims will be anonymous, no author/artist team sign ups will be allowed.

How will claiming work?

Authors will create slides with information on their stories. Claims will take place at the halfway mark, and authors must have a minimum of 5k words written to be considered for claims.

The mods will compile the author submissions anonymously to share with the artists prior to claims. Once claims open, artists will submit their choices via Google forms.

Where are the submissions going to be hosted?

All submissions will be posted on AO3. We will also promote all creations on Tumblr and Twitter.

What if I can’t finish on time, will I get an extension?

We’ll have plenty of check-ins to make sure that you will indeed finish on time! If you’ve got any concerns, the mods will work with you to find a solution on a case-by-case basis. We will also enlist the help of artist pinch hitters if necessary. If you drop before claims, there will be no penalty; however if you ghost us after claims and leave your partner hanging, we’ll take that into account for participation in future events depending on the circumstances.

Can I post work-in-progress snippets on my personal blog?

Prior to claims, all snippets and sneak peeks must be shared anonymously on the starspangledbigbang account; the mods will assist in this process. Once claims are done, you will be able to announce your team and share snippets on your personal blog, as you create. Please keep snippets to 500 words or less, and roughly ⅓ or the artwork or less.

Can the fic &/or art also count towards a bingo fill?

Yes, we will allow cross-posting within bingo-style events, as long as your partner is comfortable. If your partner would prefer to keep your creation to this event only, then we would ask you to respect their wishes. We also ask that all cross-posting be done in good faith and within the spirit of our content and conduct guidelines.

I can’t sign up, but I still want to participate, what can I do?

No worries, there are lots of ways for you to help support the Big Bang! Follow us on Twitter and Tumblr; reblog, comment, and share our posts to spread the word. We’ll also be asking for help with beta reading, pinch hitting, and other cool ways for you to get involved!

Where can I find event info?

Info on the SSBB will be posted on Tumblr (@starspangledbigbang) and Twitter (@starspangledbb), with a collection on AO3. We will also have a Discord for participants.

Who are the mods?

Your friendly SSBB mods are bangyababy, Call_Me_Kayyyyy, HeyBoy, nachodiablo, and velociraptorerin.

I’ve got more questions, help!

No problem, we’re happy to hear from you! Ping us on one of the social media sites above, or email starspangledmods at gmail dot com.

(updated 07/09/2021)

[monicawoe]

spn fic masterlist

(updated 5/29/21)

I’ve written over 100 spn fics (ranging from ficlets to 70k big-bangs). Most of them are Sam-centric, largely featuring powers!Sam. The whole collection can be found here on AO3

newest fics:

Between Hell and the Hunt - Dean's deal is due, but Sam has found a way to save him. He's made a deal with someone else - someone Lilith can't touch. (2k words, Wild Hunt season 3 AU)

Closer Than You Think - Five times Sam’s eyes were demonic, and one time they weren’t. (3k words, boyKingSam AUs of multiple eps)

Behold the Beast, Behold the Lamb - Season 4 AU.  Sam tried to free Dean from Hell, but angels intervened and took Dean for their own purposes. Sam is determined to get Dean back and will do whatever it takes, embracing his abilities fully. The more demon blood Sam drinks, the more demons he kills, the more he changes inside and out until it’s impossible to hide his monstrous side. Ruby, Uriel and Castiel push Sam to fulfill his destiny and become his true self—the Beast of the Revelation. (gen, Sam/Ruby, 20k words; featuring art by @quickreaver​)

Prayers Answered - written for the boy king Sam discord server prompt: Sam has grown up in a very religious environment. He's devoted, he goes to church, he prays. He knows that God is with him, because he listens to his prayers. But as Sam grows older, he realizes it's not God that's been listening. And he realizes that he's not asking - he's been ordering, and his loyal servants would never deny their King. (2k words; gen)

Sin Eater - Sam has a different plan to cure demon Dean, but Dean doesn't want to be cured. (Sam drinking blood from demon!Dean, written for @quickreaver​ for her artwork Bitumen Kiss)

On His Head a Crown - written for the 2019-2020 SWBB, art by @slytherkins​ Hunters drug Sam, force-feed him demon blood, and bring him to where they’ve captured Brady. Brady tells Sam he knows how to stop the Apocalypse, and Sam, despite his better judgment, hears him out: Sam himself is the horsemen Conquest—aka the Antichrist—and he alone can bring Lucifer’s apocalypse to a grinding halt. Sam resists, but when he discovers the good he can do with his new powers, he decides to use them to atone for all his past mistakes.   (21k, Sam/Brady, gen, AU of 5x03-5x04)

Many more under the cut

Best Self - written for @alyndra9​​  for the prompt: King of Hell Sam meets Kale!Sam and they have many differences of opinion to work out. (aka the only one who knows what Sam really wants is Sam.) words by monicawoe banner by @quickreaver​​! (~4k words, Sam/Sam)

All You Have Is Your Fire - written for @quickreaver​ for the 2020 Supernatural Spring Fling Dean has known fire all his life. Sometimes it sounds like his brother. (~2k words; gen)

Tear You Apart - written for @wetsammywinchester​ who wanted Soulless!Sam/Brady & Soulless!Sam taking on the mantle of King of Hell:  Sam doesn’t want his soul back. He resurrects Brady who helps him figure out a way to outsmart Death: by damaging his soul so it can’t be reintegrated. With Brady’s help, Sam reclaims his power, and takes his soul apart one piece at a time. (8k words; Soulless!Sam/Brady)

Hellbound - Sam is in Hell, and then he isn't. He's standing on a sidewalk with a stranger looking back at him—a stranger that has his face. My 2020 spn-summergen fic! Featuring soulless!Sam, disembodied soul-Sam and amnesiac Dean. (gen, 8k)

Lakeside Fishing - written for @denugis​ - After defeating Famine, after days of suffering through demon blood withdrawal in the panic room, Sam needs time to clear his head. Early in the morning, he heads to a small lake seeking solitude, but instead finds an unexpected ally. (4k words; Sam/Patrick; set after My Bloody Valentine; witch!Sam)

His Soul to Keep - art by @sketchydean​​ - written for the SPN Eldritch Bang horror event - Dean’s deal is coming due soon. When he finds out from Ruby that Hell will turn him into a demon, he refuses to accept it, even though he can already feel pieces of his soul starting to crumble away. Sam is his only anchor to the world, and Dean finds it harder and harder to leave his side.    After Broward County, after watching Dean die a thousand deaths, Sam decides he’s not going to let Dean go to Hell. He’ll do whatever it takes, even if that means allying himself with Ruby and using the darkness inside of him. Sam casts a soul-binding spell on Dean; they might not be able to break the deal, but they can change who Dean’s soul belongs to. (13k, Sam/Dean, hard-gen, AU of season 3))

Last Drop - art by @quickreaver​ -written for the Twisted Tropes event - Sam/Brady AU set while Sam’s at Stanford:  Sam is slowly adjusting to his new life at Stanford University. He’s left his life of hunting behind, and traded it for endless studying and tests, but he’s plagued by dreams of Dean and Dad in danger, dreams of blood and violence. Then he meets Tyson Brady, who’s always there with a smile and a cup of coffee to get Sam through all-nighters. Sam’s dreams start to fade, but just as he’s getting used to a nice normal life, he starts to develop abilities—powers he can’t control. Brady thinks they’re great, but Sam knows power never comes without a cost. (14k, Sam/Brady)

Make Angels of Us All - art by @amberdreams1960​  - Sam has a guardian angel. It’s been with him his whole life, trying to keep him safe. The angel gives Sam power he can’t control: power to move things with his mind, power over fire, and wings that nobody else can see—bony and jagged with scaly feathers. Dean says monsters aren't real, but Dad thinks they are. Sam's power scares him, and he’s not always sure what's real, but what he does know is people keep trying to kill the three of them, and he won't let that happen. (~20K, gen)

Burdens, Doublefold - cowritten with @quickreaver​, art by ileliberte What if Dean left Sam at Stanford after the fire, hoping it would keep his little brother safe and make things better? Somehow, 'better' never seems to be in the Winchester Family cards. Sam gets tangled up with his ex-roommate Brady, tracking psychics, but dealing with demons is never honest business. Dean carries on until his father is put in grave danger. He is left on his own to deal, stumbling into Harvelle's Roadhouse for help, where Dean gets just a little more than he bargained for. Eventually, the brothers’ paths twist and turn their way back to each other, but the results could mean the End of Days. (67k, gen, AU of seasons 1-2)

Before the One You Serve When Dean comes to get Sam at Stanford, he finds him living with Brady. And Dean doesn't trust Brady, even though he can't quite put his finger on why. Not at first. (5k, Sam/Brady)

He Who Fights Monsters - cowritten with nwspaprtaxis, art by @quickreaver​ AU of the summer between Seasons 3 and 4. Dean's dead, dragged down kicking and screaming to Hell. Sam's not dealing well. And Ruby’s got her work cut out for her. (52K, Sam/Ruby)

John Winchester is Dead They say those Winchester boys're crazy. Drive around in a big black beast and drink too much and laugh about mean things. They say their daddy's worse, but you never see him. He's just a voice on the other end of the phone or a darker shape in the back seat of their dark car. They say John Winchester died two years ago. (2k, gen, horror)

Breathing, Talking, Dead Man Walking   -  John Doe, male, approximately thirty-seven years old. Subject was found by EMTs in close proximity to the site of a sizable explosion in Lebanon, Kansas. (2k, gen, Sam & Dean)

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - featuring art by @quickreaver​ When Sam opened Lucifer’s Cage, the only thing he found inside was Lucifer’s grace – his grace. With the return of his grace, Sam remembered his past – his war against the Host, his Fall, and his plans to bring about the End. The thing is…he doesn’t want the Apocalypse anymore. He likes things the way they are, and tries everything to keep his identity a secret- especially from Dean. Of course, the four Horsemen, Hell and Heaven have other ideas. (13K, gen)

The Last Days in the Land of Nod - comic adaptation by @quickreaver​ The year is 2014. The Devil is wearing his finest, the Angel is human, and the Brother protects the survivors at Camp Chitaqua.

The Two Ravens - art by @quickreaver​ Your brother he is, and heir to my throne. He’ll feed on the damned and he'll turn them to bone. (4k; fairy-tale)

Counteroffer About two weeks after Sam gutted a hellhound, completing the first trial, he started acting weird. (5k, psychological horror, gore)

Pattern Recognition: A Hannibal/Supernatural fusion AU  -  Sam and Dean split after River Pass, and their confrontation with the Horseman, War. Since Will’s escape from the Baltimore Institute for the Criminally Insane, he and Sam have been in hiding. They have a cabin, in the middle of nowhere, that keeps them off the radar; they find comfort in each other. But they can’t stay off the chessboard forever, especially not when Lucifer, wearing Hannibal Lecter as a vessel, is tearing the world apart around them. (33k, Sam Winchester/Will Graham)

Impala's Run - cowritten with @quickreaver, art by adrenalineshots Sam and Dean Singer (aka Winchester) aren’t your average young Kansas farmers. Their home is very, very far from Kansas, in fact. Many light-years worth of ‘far’. The boys may look human, but certain talents set them apart: Dean speaks the language of machines, and Sam can heal through manipulating energy. Hidden on Earth by their father, their agricultural lifestyle gets rocked when warring alien races discover where they’ve landed, and Sam and Dean are forced to make the run of their lives. (23k, gen)

All Our Wrath and Cutting Beauty - art by @quickreaver - Sam killed Alistair, but not before Alistair reminded Dean of who and what he’d become in Hell. Dean knows Sam can take down Lilith, and he’ll make damn sure Sam gets strong enough to do just that. They’ll stop the Apocalypse – together, no matter how many bodies stack up, or how much blood is spilt.(11k, horror) 

Diary of a Madman -Lydia’s newest patient, Sam Winchester, suffered from hallucinations, delusions, and regular bouts of insomnia. He also thought he was Lucifer. (4k, gen, horror)

Some other bundled links, for your convenience

Demon-blood Sam

King of Hell Sam

Powers!Sam

Horror

Crossovers & Fusion ‘verses

Hannibal|SPN

SPN/Preacher

SPN/Hannibal/MCU

[silyabeeodess]

Thoughts on Frisk, Chara, and the Player

Besides what I’ve covered briefly in the description of a comic a few years back, this is long overdue; however, since I might make something focusing on Chara in the future, I decided to go ahead and put down my two cents on these two characters.  Since this is effectively a long essay, I’ll have everything below the cut:

One of the most longstanding debates among Undertale fans is the morality of these characters and their relation to the Player.  Some see Frisk and Chara as effectively polar embodiments of good and evil following the Pacifist and Genocide routes while others see the Player alone as the individual in control of all choices with the two characters bowing to that control.  The truth might be somewhere in the middle.

Let’s cover the most basic thing first.  The Player is you.  Yes, it’s your decisions that take the story in different directions, but you are not a character. You are not a part of the world of Undertale.  You’re an intruder, an outsider, an anomaly--something that the people in Undertale only seem to have a vague understanding of.  Characters like Flowey will break the 4th wall by calling you out for your actions, but it’s often from the idea that you’re still Chara--even if Chara’s own story played out long before you came in.  Chara will ask for your SOUL, but you personally don’t actually sacrifice anything: Even as far as the game’s story goes with the “Soulless Pacifist” route, the most you lose is the time is takes to reinstall the game and play it as you normally would. You can cheat them out of “your SOUL” easily.  They think you’re Frisk.

Most glaringly, however, is that both Frisk and Chara will fight against some of your decisions.  For Chara, you have them not giving you much of a choice with how you end the Genocide route and declaring that you were never in control, amongst other actions like killing Asgore and Flowey. Most people might not notice Frisk’s refusal beyond the fact that we don’t pick their name like we can Chara’s; however, the point where this becomes most clear is during our interactions with Undyne on a Pacifist Run.  When we try to become Undyne’s friend and she insists on fighting anyway after her house catches fire, we have the choice to fight back.  Doing so though results in a weak attack, which Undyne declares as being the result of a lack of will to hurt her.  That isn’t the Player’s decision, and it effectively forces us to spare her whether we want to or not.  

This relationship parallels what we also see in Deltarune, with the Player there also exhibiting control over Kris, but Kris fighting back.  Kris isn’t an empty vessel or puppet for the Player to manipulate, and the same can be said for Frisk and Chara in Undertale. It’s a form of temporary possession, where we--an otherworldly being--take over a host for as long a period as the game’s designers allow. It means that we can’t pin our actions on either Frisk or Chara.  Let’s go back to that second paragraph though.  The other characters don’t really know this, making Frisk/Chara/Kris suffer as a result.      

From a gameplay perspective, this is an awesome idea to tackle. From a story perspective, meanwhile, things get a little complicated.

Here’s the thing about handling it simply as a story: The Player often has to be ripped out of the equation.  Again, you aren’t a character, and the only way the Player can really be present in the world of Undertale is as an OC or persona based on the independent choices of each creator.  Keeping them out means leaving the choices we would normally make 100% up to Frisk/Chara.  Ergo, stop attacking artists and writers for their portrayals of those two when creators have to give them qualities that are entirely up to each individuals ideas and experiences to try and fill in a bunch of blanks.  Beyond Chara’s backstory giving us some information on who they were, which is mostly told to us through other characters, there is no perfectly in-character portrayal of either of them.  

Which I guess brings us to the part where I try explaining my idea of them.  So let’s start with Chara, since again, they have the most background info.

What are some canon points we can cover with Chara?

Asriel describes them as “not the greatest person,” but still cared for them deeply as his best friend. From the recordings in the True Lab, we see they had a good friendship, even if Chara often took a more leading role.

Also according to Asriel, Chara “hated humanity” and had an unhappy reason for climbing the mountain.

It was Chara’s plan to commit suicide, have Asriel take their SOUL, and try to kill humans to break the barrier.

Chara laughed after poisoning Asgore with buttercups. It’s presumed by Asriel to have been an accident, but we don’t know Chara’s knowledge on the situation.

An extended monologue from Asgore has him describe Frisk and Chara as having “the same look of hope in their eyes.”

Asgore considered Chara “the future of humans and monsters.”

They refer to themselves as “the demon who comes when people call its name.”

As of the Genocide route, their goal is the complete destruction of Undertale’s world to join the Player and move on to another. They pin the Player’s actions on their newfound “purpose” to attain power.

Narration in the game is different depending on the route, speaking commonly from a 2nd-person POV on Pacifist and Neutral runs, but 1st-person on a Genocide run. This alludes that Chara is always with us during gameplay.

Chara’s dialogue mimics Toriel’s, hinting to a close relationship following the concepts of mimicry being a form of flattery and a child’s desire to be like a positive adult figure in their lives.

So here’s what I think.  Chara’s hatred toward humanity is supported not only by Asriel’s confession, but also in their actions.  If Chara took control as Asriel described after crossing the Barrier to kill humans and take their SOULS, that willingness to commit murder along with their own suicide indicates not only that general disdain, but also a hefty amount of self-loathing simply for being human.  Whatever happened to them prior to entering the Underground, that hatred was likely only nursed further by knowledge and ideas fed to them from monsterkind: Humans hurt monsters too and monsters are supposedly “made of compassion” while “humans don’t need any.” (They may have even been bullied or faced prejudice for being human, even if it wasn’t from the Dreemurrs, just like how Frisk was constantly attacked on-site.)  This likely led to a monster-centric worldview where all of humanity--and even themselves, to a point--was the enemy.  

I imagine the “Mr. Dad Guy” sweater we find was made by Chara rather than Asriel because of the inclusion of “guy” at the end, since this seems like something more of an adopted child would do than a biological one, maybe not entirely comfortable with the idea yet of calling Toriel and Asgore “Mom” and “Dad.”  I truly do think Chara loved their newfound family and never meant to hurt Asgore: The laugh, while it can’t be confirmed, seemed to be a mark of mental instability rather than something of true malice. With the pressure of being called “the future of humans and monsters” as well, they probably felt like they had to be responsible for humanity’s actions as a whole even if they personally did nothing wrong.  From that perspective, their life--and any other human’s--mattered less than a monster’s, because they had to atone for the crimes of others.  Humanity itself had to atone.  This is why they would be so willing to sacrifice themselves and kill for the sake of breaking the Barrier.

So what happens when the monsters Chara placed on a pedestal start breaking their script?  Asriel stopping Chara from committing murder is one thing: That seemed to be one part of the plan that Chara didn’t tell him about, probably because they knew he wouldn’t agree to it. Beyond that though?  What happens when monsters stop showing that legendary compassion?  Asriel started playing with lives and killed for fun as Flowey.  Asgore declared war against humanity and started killing children.  Toriel left her position as queen and couldn’t protect anyone. Not only was their happy family broken, but monsters started acting like the humans they claimed to be better than through their own “weaknesses” and desire to kill.  They were supposed to be above humanity’s choices, above even Chara’s choices. Vengeance isn’t an excuse anymore: It’s all the same, and it feels like the ultimate betrayal.  

They’re all the same.  Monsters, humans, it doesn’t matter.  It’s an ugly world where only the strong and terrible reign, and it deserves to be destroyed.  There’s nothing left.  There’s no good left.  There’s no hope left... 

Unless, maybe, someone new enters the game. Can they rekindle that hope or will they only prove those dark thoughts right?

In comes Frisk, who we really only know as a blank slate.  We don’t know their history or their desires except to leave the Underground one way or another.   We can’t really say much, so this is where it really is entirely up in the air how we portray them.

A personal headcanon of mine is that they were a bit of a little thief, “frisking” things off of others--which is why we can get G even without killing in the game.  A very morally grey character, fitting the multiple routes Undertale’s story can go and Sans description of them “maybe not being a saint” even if they play as a Pacifist.  Maybe they don’t really know what the right choice always is, but they desire to do their best when possible. 

I can’t say much here because, as I’ve said several times now, it’s up to everyone.  Me?  I like a Pacifist Frisk, even if they struggling and suffer before reaching their happy ending.  Some might have them go through a Genocide route on their own or by Chara’s possession. Some have them with guilt-riddled consciences and others treat them as the purest of souls. Some pick different endings.   

So enjoy your interpretations, your characterizations, and your AUs.  You don’t have to agree with my ideas or anyone else’s: Just don’t bash others for theirs.  Undertale’s gameplay opens things to everyone’s personal experience and should be enjoyed as such. 

[theradicalscrivener]

21 Dollar Foot long

It’s been a hot minute, but I have a new fic for youse guise. 

Angus receives a new app from his buddy which claims to allow him to host his very own growth drive! Angus could use the money, and it’s not like the app can really grow his cock. It’s just trick photography and photo manipulation, right?

                                                                                                                                      Angus was sitting at his desk when he heard the familiar chime of a file being sent coming from his desktop computer. Having nothing better to do, he quickly opened up the chat window to see who had sent the file and what the nature of the file was. Angus was not at all surprised to see the message had come from his best bud, Donald.

              “Check out this latest program I made” read Donald’s message.

              “What does it do?” Angus asked.

              “Oh. You’re gonna love this. You know those growth drive things that have been going around on Twitter?” Donald asked.

              “Yeah?” Angus replied.

              “Well, I got to thinking. Why don’t we try making one of our own!” Donald said.

              “You know as well as I do that neither of us can draw for shit.” Angus replied.

              “That’s the beauty of it. We won’t have to! Just fire up this program, pop in a few parameters, and let the magic of modern technology do the rest!” Donald said.

              The whole conversation was carried out via text so it’s not like Angus could really hear the tone of Donald’s voice, but the speed at which he was firing back responses as well as the various typos made it pretty obvious that Donald was beyond excited by his latest pet project.

              “If this is such a great idea, why haven’t you done it already?” Angus asked.

              “Well…. I was kind of hoping that you’d be the one to try it out.” Donald replied.

              “Me?” Angus asked.

              “Yeah. I mean… You’ve already got the looks. I bet you’d have people lining up to see what you can do.” Donald replied.

              “If you wanted to see me naked there are much easier ways to go about it.” Angus teased.

              It was obvious by the ellipsis on the bottom of the chat program that Donald was typing something, but the long pause in between Angus’s comment and Donald’s actual reply made it clear that Donald was having a hard time picking his words.

              After what seemed like ages, Donald finally replied, “Just try it out. You said so yourself you were strapped on cash. This could be a great way to make a few bucks.”

              Angus couldn’t argue with that… well, he could argue with that, but he didn’t see the point in it. Truth be told, he was curious about what Donald’s program could actually do, and it’s not like there was any harm in firing it up.

              Angus shrugged and clicked the file. Once it had finished downloading, he fired it up and easily coasted through the installation options and eventually got the app up and running on his computer. He was amazed at how clean and easy to use the app was. All it took was a few clicks and a few permissions and the program was fully booted up and ready to go. It had even gained access to Angus’s webcams. The cameras had already fired up and were fixated on him. One feed was zoomed out to show his whole body, and the other was zoomed in on his crotch, although since he was currently wearing boxers, the second feed only got a good glimpse of plaid.

              Angus took a moment to look through all the options. It didn’t take him long to get a feel for how this app worked. There were some basic parameters he could choose. First, he had to link it to an account that he would receive pledges from viewers, and then he got to choose how much he would grow per pledge. There were tons of options he could choose from as far as how much to grow for each dollar value, but most of them seemed too unrealistic. He could do something ridiculous like 1cm per $20, but that would take forever to see any growth, and he doubted anyone would pay money to see something like that, especially since it was all just going to be on the fly footage editing. Angus could just imagine how he would look during his cam show with a comically stretched out ten-inch-long dong that seemed to curve and distort every time it moved as if it was being viewed through a convex mirror.

              Eventually he decided to just click one inch per each $3 donation. This seemed like a safe enough bet. People did Ko-Fis all the time for growth drives so there were obviously people who would pay that much to see some trick photography do its thing. With the parameters set and his account linked, all that was left to do was to fire up the stream, and fortunately Angus had a site already in mind to host his little cam show. All it took was a few keystrokes, and he was logging and ready to go.

              “Hey guys,” Angus said awkwardly and waved to his webcam. He could see the footage displaying on his computer screen of himself waving back at him as well as a second window of just a close-up of his still plaid-clad junk.

              At the moment there was no one to reply back to his welcome, but that didn’t take long to change. Once his stream was live there was a steady trickle of viewers who popped in to check out what was up. The icon of the stream just showed an old photo of Angus flexing for the cam so a few people were there to see the hot, beefy stud wearing even less than he was in his avatar pic, but there were a few who had stumbled in because they were bored and looking for a few whack and a few who had stumbled in out of pure curiosity. His stream header promised dick growth, and that’s not something you saw every day.

              There were only a few people in the stream by the time Angus got his first comment. “Now eventually you might have dicks on your dick stream, yes?” the comment read.

              “Oh right. I suppose I ought to get right on into it,” Angus said. He got up from his chair and took a step back, all the while keeping an eye on his cam feeds to make sure that the cameras were still staying focused on him. Sure, enough one camera remained focused on his body and the other remained zoomed in on his crotch. Angus took just a moment to steel his nerves before hooking his thumbs into the waistband of his boxers and shimmying them down. It didn’t take long for his perfectly modest five inches to spill into view.

              Angus was just about to sit down on the foot of his bed and get to wanking when he saw another comment pop up on his stream, but he quickly realized a small flaw in his master plan. It was tough to keep an eye on the comments on his computer while he was seated at his bed. He quickly scooped up his phone which he had left beside his PC and logged into his own stream so he could read the comments. While he was scanning the newest comment a few more popped up, but they all said roughly the same thing.

              “Nice.”

              “Great cock, bro.”

              The real comment that caught his attention though wasn’t even part of his actual stream. Angus phone buzzed twice alerting him to two new messages: One text message and one email. Angus checked the text first since he doesn’t normally worry too much about emails, but the nature of the text made him keen to check his email immediately after.

              The message had come from his pal, Donald. “Looks like you could use something to get the ball rolling there,” the message read. It didn’t take Angus long at all to figure out what Donald meant. Angus almost immediately felt a strange sensation across his cock and balls. It was a slight warmth almost as if his junk was pulsing with energy. Angus instinctively glanced down at his cock and what he saw made his jaw drop. His bait and tackle were actually growing! It wasn’t just the fact that he was getting hard either. He was always more of a shower than a grower, but even ignoring that fact, getting a boner wouldn’t make his nuts swell up too.

              Angus quickly checked his email to confirm his suspicions. Sure enough, the recent email was from PayPal alerting him to a new donation of $3 from his pal, Donald, but that was just the start. Even while he was checking his new message his phone buzzed a couple more times, but rather than having a new email show up in his email list numbers appeared next to the PayPal alert email. First x2… then x3… then x4…

              Angus checked the comments on his stream. He was too dumbfounded to do much modeling for his new fans, but his cock was more than happy to put on a show. He solid six inches was rock hard at this point and steadily creeping up in size as he read the recent comments.

              “Woah! Did his dick just grow!?”

              “No way!”

              “I gotta try this out.”

              “Same. I got three bucks to throw at this.”

              “Me too. I got three bucks in my couch cushion.”

Sure enough, those commenters made good on their goal and tossed another $9 Angus’s way for a combined total of three more inches. Angus stared on in awe as his cock went from six inches… to seven… to eight… to nine… He couldn’t believe his eyes. He had gone from a perfectly average five inches to a porn star nine incher in the span of a few minutes! This wasn’t trick photography. This was real! Donald’s app actually worked! Angus was too stunned to think too hard on it. All he could do was stare at his cock. He had to be sure what he was seeing was real. He had to feel it with his own hands, and his audience was only all too happy to watch him do just that.

             Angus plopped down at the foot of his bed and wrapped a hand around his fat cock. He could barely fathom how huge his dick was now. It was like gripping a water bottle. His cock used to only just barely poke out past his palm when he gave his rod a good tug, but now he had room to spare. He could almost get his whole other hand around his shaft, and judging by the buzz of his phone, he got the impression that would soon be possible.

             Sure enough, Angus felt a familiar warmth pulse through his penis while he had his hand around his crank. He could actually feel his dick getting thicker in his hand. His had to loosen his grip as his cock grew fatter in the palm of his hand, but that wasn’t all that changed. His dick not only got thicker but longer as well, and his balls were growing right alongside the rest of his junk. His nuts had grown from the size of cherries to the size of cherry tomatoes and were showing no signs of slowing down just yet.

             Angus continued to stroke his swelling cock with one hand while he held his phone in the other and glanced at the comments in his stream. The comments were really blowing up. His did a double take as he saw that his follower count had quickly climber through the double digits and were rapidly approaching triples, and it didn’t take him long to find out why. A few of the comments said it all.

             “Oh man. He’s huge! I know a site that’s gonna love him!”

             “Is his dick growing!? No way! I gotta show this to my server!”

             “I gotta share this on Twitter. They’re gonna go nut for this guy!”

             “God. They gotta see this on discord.”

              Angus had gone viral, and more viewers meant more potential donators, which explained a lot about why his phone felt more like a vibrator than a minicomputer. Angus could scarcely fathom how fast his cock had reached porn star status, and it didn’t seem like his growth was going to slow down any time soon. Judging by all the new arrivals, he might reach absurd sizes in the very near future.

              Angus stared at his cock as it continued to grow and swell. He was so shocked at what he was seeing that his mind was lagging. As his cock grew past a full foot of fat dong, he started to wonder if maybe he ought to pull the plug on this little pet project or at the very least turn off the donations. He was more than happy to spend a little bit of time exploring his newly enlarged cock and he was sure his audience would love to watch him do so.

              Angus was just about to get up from his seat at the foot of his bed and put a cap on donations, but something was stopping him from doing so. It was like his body refused to cooperate. He knew he should stop this before it got out of hand, he really did, but at the same time this thought in the back of his mind wouldn’t shut up. His cock was already hot as hell at a full foot. How great would it look like when it got even bigger? It had just gotten hotter and huger and sexier with each added inch. Just the thought of packing on a few more points on his pecker had his dick drooling pre. He could soon have a world record shattering schlong! Angus didn’t know what the current record actually was, but he was sure he rivaled it already. Even as he sat there staring at his schlong, he could feel his phone buzzing and see his dick swelling. It had surpassed a solid foot, that was for sure, but how huge was it really? He could always do the math, sure. He had a list of all the donors and knew how much dick he had started with. It would be a simple matter of tallying to donations to see how huge his cock was now, but where’s the fun in that? It had no punch. No pizazz.

              Angus quickly got up from his seat and scrambled for his desk, but he didn’t touch his computer. Instead he opened the drawer and fumbled through the various items inside. At first, he pulled out his trusty ruler, but after a quick glance at his computer screen he quickly changed his mind. The camera feeds now both showed a close-up of his cock and balls, and it was plain to see the foot-long standard ruler would no longer suffice. The tip of Angus’s rock-hard cock now poked well past his belly button. Just seeing how huge his cock looked on cam made Angus even more excited, and his excitement led to a great show for his adoring public. His dick dribbled pre for all to see. He was so hot and bothered that his hands trembled as he dug deeper into his drawer for something that would do the job better than his now too small ruler, and soon he found what he needed. A tape measurer.

              Angus plopped back down at the foot of his bed and hurriedly unfurled a segment of the tape measurer and held it up to his humongous cock. His dick was already sixteen inches long and growing by the second! He had to have hands down the largest cock of any dude on the planet! Surely this would be big enough, right? But even as he thought that he could hear his phone buzzing on the bed beside him. The donations were still flowing in!

              Angus once again argued over whether or not to call it then and there. He could pull the plug on the stream right now and cap donations. He already had a cock that was seventeen inches long and growing by the second! His dick was beyond huge! His dick was already so thick that he couldn’t even hope to wrap a hand all the way around it. His cock was about as fat as a two-liter bottle of Coke. He had balls the size of large, ripe grapefruit, but even as he debated, he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to be even bigger. His cock already looked so amazing, and it was just getting hotter as it grew and grew. Surely it couldn’t hurt to add a few more inches to his already amazing cock.

              Angus watched the twin video feeds as he reached down and cupped his balls in how hands and gawked at what he saw. The tip of his cock now reached up to his pecs. His nuts were now so huge that either enlarged orb filled an entire palm and then some. At the rate he was going he was soon to have nuts the size of his head! The mere thought of it caused his nearly two feet of fat cock to buck and lurch excitedly. Pre flowed freely down his humongous cock and his massive nuts and dripped onto the floor below.

              Angus knew he needed to dial things back a bit if for no other reason than he was close to cumming, and the stream had barely even begun. He wanted to give his audience a good show and maybe squeeze a few more inches out of his donors before he blew his load.

              Angus reached over for his phone which he had dropped on his bed when he had decided to be a bit more hands-on with his cock. He quickly unlocked the screen and skimmed over the chat to see what he had missed. The answer to that was not much. Most of the comments seemed to be more of the same.

              “He’s so hot.”

              “That cock is fantastic!”

              “He’s almost big enough!”

              Angus had to smirk at these comments. Was he almost big enough or was he just beginning? That was for his fans to decide – and decide they did! For no sooner had Angus had that thought than the conversation took a drastic turn.

              “Nothing says we have to donate in increments of $3, right?” Someone asked.

              “Not that I know of, why?” came a reply.

              “Well, I think this is going a little too slowly.”

              “I can put down some money for a BIG spurt.”

              “I’ll match it!”

              “Me too!”

              “Let’s see him get YUGE!”

              Angus gasped at what he saw. Just how much were they talking about chipping in? He had already packed on nearly twenty inches. His once average cock was now full two feet long! His dick reached past his nips and was as thick as his beefy bicep! His nuts were now the size of cantaloupes!

              Even as Angus pondered just what his donors had in mind his phone buzzed to alert him that he had a new email. His hand trembled as he opened the email to see just what it was. He was not surprised to see it was another PayPal notice, but what did surprise him was the amount.

              “I just chipped in 30 bucks.” One commenter said.

              Angus read it again to be sure. Thirty dollars! That’s ten whole inches! That’s almost half what he already has!

              “I said I’d match it and I will!” came the respond.

              Sure enough, his phone buzzed again to alert him to yet another email, but he didn’t need to read this one to see what it meant. The previous email alerting him to a thirty-dollar donor now had an x2 next to it to indicate a duplicate. Sixty dollars… That was twenty whole inches coming at him fast!

              Angus stared in awe as his cock began to grow with renewed vigor. Soon the tip of his dick was at his collar bone, and then his chin, and soon it was eye level! It wasn’t long before his dick poked up above his head. Angus stared in awe at the behemoth as it towered over him. His dick was almost as thick as he was, and Angus was no slouch at the gym! He had to feel it with his own hands to be sure it was real. He ran his hands up and down along the length of his newly enhanced rod. His hands looked and felt so tiny against his nearly four feet of fat cock. It was hard to believe that just this morning he could easily wrap a hand around his dick. Now he could wrap both ARMS around his cock.

              Angus peeked around his humongous cock to get a glimpse at the camera feeds. Both feeds were now basically showing the exact same footage – a giant cock with some arms and legs poking out from behind it. Angus could scarcely fathom how huge his cock had become. His nuts had swelled up right alongside his dick as well. His nuts were now as large as prize pumpkins! They hung off the edge of his bed and drooped almost down to the floor below!

              Angus’s phone began to buzz once more. He couldn’t believe it. He was already so huge, and people were STILL tossing money at him? He quickly scooped up his phone, unlocked the screen, and perused chat once more.

              “FUCK He’s huge!”

              “That’s so fucking hot!”

              “He’s almost more cock than man now!”

              “Almost”

              “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

              Angus gasped at what he saw. They couldn’t possibly be thinking what he thought they were thinking. Growing his cock even more so that he was more cock than man? That’s ridiculous! Yet even as the thought crossed his mind his massive schlong lurched with glee. Pre oozed down his four feet of cock, and his phone buzzed again and again.

              Angus watched in shock and awe as his cock climbed higher and higher. It was coming dangerously close to hitting the light fixture above his bed and showing no signs of slowing down, and even without looking he could tell his nuts were growing too. He could feel the cool, faux-hardwood laminate of his dorm room floor against the underside of his swollen nuts.

              Angus craned his neck around his monstrous cock and stole a glance at the video feeds. His cock now touched his ceiling. His nuts now rested solidly on the floor like a pair of massive, fleshy bean bag chairs. Angus knew for a fact he needed to stop this, and soon! His cock was thicker than full-sized punching bag! When he wrapped his arms around it his fingers only just barely touched on the opposite side.

              Angus unlocked his phone once more and quickly typed a message into the chat. “Ok, guys. That’s enough for one day.” But his message was met with an automated message from the server. “Guests may not comment on this video. Please log in.”

              Angus’s eyes fell upon the follower count in the corner of the screen. His cock was now so huge that it hit the ceiling! He had to angle it back to keep it from mashing against the light fixture above him, and he was still gaining followers and fast! He couldn’t believe there were so many people pouring in even this late into the stream, but it didn’t take him long to figure out why.

              “I shared the link to this vid with some forums I lurk. I know for a fact they’ll love him there.”

              “He’s almost a little small for some of the forums I linked him to.”

              “We’ll soon fix that.”

              Angus cursed under his breath and hurriedly typed in his username and password. Even as he did this, he could feel his phone buzzing and his cock growing even larger. Angus couldn’t believe how huge he had gotten nor that he was still getting bigger. He thought for sure his watchers were done with him, but even as he typed in his log-in credentials he could see the chat still going.

              “Fuuuuuck he’s huge!”

              “Hell yeah! So hot!”

              “Bigger! Bigger!”

              Angus finished typing in his password and groaned at what he saw. Invalid password. It must have been because his hands were shaking that he botched the password, but whatever the case may be he had to try again and stop this mess. He typed his name and password in again, this time being extra careful not to make a typo and hit enter.

              Angus flopped back in his bed and waited with bated breath while the loading circle spun in the middle of his screen. His cock was now so huge that he had to angle it towards the wall at the head of his bed. His cock was already as wide as his twin sized dorm bed and quite a bit longer. His dick was so long that it angled from the foot of his bed all the way to the ceiling against the wall behind him. “come on, come on…” he groaned under his breath as he watched the circle continuing to spin. He was running out of room for his enormous cock. If he got much bigger, he wouldn’t even fit in his own dorm room! All he needed was for the stream to load in once more and he could finally dial things back, but it was not to be. A new error message soon popped up.

              “That user is currently logged in in another device.”

              Angus one again cursed under his breath. There was no helping it. If he wanted to stop this he’d have to get up and head towards the PC sitting on his desk, but that was easier said than done. For starters, his desk sat on the opposite side of a solid wall of cock and balls that kept him pinned to his bed! Angus slowly shimmied his way sideways off his bed. With each inch he moved he was amazed at just how incredibly heavy his cock and balls had become. His nuts alone weighed him to the ground like a ship’s anchor, and he couldn’t even imagine how heavy his dick would be if it wasn’t currently propped against the wall at the head of his bed. It took some finesse, but once Angus was off his bed, he was slowly able to crawl shift around his massive cock until he was now over top of it and crawl his way backwards over his massive nuts.

              Angus stared in awe as he stood there with his back to his desk. His cock was now so huge that it filled almost his entire room. He was nearly pinned to his desk beneath the behemoth that was his cock and balls which presented yet another problem. He couldn’t get the drawer which housed his keyboard and mouse out from underneath his desk! He was pinned so tightly against his own desk by his gargantuan cock and balls that his own thighs were pinning the drawer shut!

              Angus glanced over his shoulder at his desktop screen and gasped at what he saw. The audience was still cheering for him to get even bigger! Wasn’t he big enough already!? Sure, he couldn’t deny how staggeringly hot his massive cock and balls were, but how was he going to get through life attached to a schlong the size of a subway car?

              Even as Angus pondered this another message caught his eye.

              “Don’t worry, guys. I just sent him a BIG one.”

              Angus could feel his phone buzzing in his hand. He had kept a death grip on his phone this entire time even without really realizing he had done it. He was almost afraid to look, but he unlocked the screen anyway. Sure enough, he had a new email from PayPal, but unlike the others this wasn’t a duplicate. This was a donation with a brand-new value on it. Angus was afraid to click the email and see what the amount was. Part of him wished that it was just another $3 donation… after all, he could see the $3 at the tail end of the email preview, but the … after the 3 worried him greatly.

              Angus nervously clicked the email icon. It didn’t do him any good to hide from it. After all, he was going to be growing one way or the other. It was like ripping off a band-aid. Best to just get it over with.

              Angus’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw the final value. Three… HUNDRED!? Who has that kind of money to throw at something like this!? But there was no denying what he was reading. Someone had thrown enough money at him to nearly double his already colossal cock. With the added eight plus feet of fat cock he was soon going to be at nearly twenty full feet of schlong!

              “Oh, fuck…” Angus murmured under his breath. The sound of his own words sent shivers down his spine. It wasn’t a cry of shock or anguish. It was a moan of almost orgasmic delight! Even as he shuddered, he could feel his nuts tense up as if bracing for the largest load of his – or anyone else’s – life!

              With his cock rapidly expanding once more, Angus soon found himself more than mashed against his desk. He was being pushed up and onto it by his own swelling cock and balls. Soon his ass knocked his monitor off the desktop. Seconds after that he was pinning against the far wall with his cock pressed against the wall on the opposite side of the room, and he still had several feet left to grow!

              Angus wasn’t sure what he was going to do now. There was nothing he could do. All he could do was stand there and gawk as his cock outgrew his dorm room. Even now he could feel the wall begin to buckle under the onslaught of his swelling schlong. He could hear the plaster crumbling. He could see the lines spreading across the far wall as it cracked and crumpled. And then, as if a dam breaking, sunlight poured into his room as his cock spilled out into the open courtyard between dorm rooms.

              Angus’s cock was free to extend to its heart’s content, but he soon found himself with another problem. His nuts had grown so much that he was now resting atop them. They were so massive that they almost pinned him to his own ceiling! His massive nuts filled up every inch of space in his room from floor to ceiling and from wall to wall! His entire dorm room was flooded with his own nut sack!

              Angus groaned as he felt himself be pinned between his ceiling and his own swelling balls. For a moment he was sure that he was going to be crushed to death by his own package. He was just about to close his eyes and accept the end when he felt something quite peculiar. He wasn’t sure how and he wasn’t sure why, but he was sliding forward. The rough texture of the ceiling scratched against his back, but soon he felt the fresh air on his bare skin. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the sunlight, but when they did, he took stock of his surroundings and started to figure out what had happened. His cock had grown so huge and so hefty that the sheer weight of it was enough to pull his nuts right out of his room like the cork being popped off a wine bottle. He had fallen from his room on the second floor and landed with a thud on the grass below, but his cock and balls were just so damn huge that the single-story drop had felt like nothing more than an inch.

              Angus was pleased as punch to no longer be in any mortal danger, but now he had a new problem to deal with. The arrival of a twenty plus foot schlong in the middle of campus had attracted a lot of onlookers, and there was nothing he could do to try and hide from their scrutinizing eyes. Fortunately, his phone had stopped buzzing, and so it seemed that he had finally reached his new, maximum size.

              In part because he had nothing better to do while trapped atop his own package and in part because he wanted something to distract himself from the crowd that had gathered around him, Angus unlocked his phone once more and peeked in at the stream chat. It didn’t take long for him to notice that things had quieted down, and it was immediately clear why. The stream had been cut short. No doubt his PC had been knocked offline due to his growth spurt which had crushed his desk. Angus breathed a sigh of relief. At least this meant things would calm down now… or so he thought. No sooner had he breathed a sigh of relief than he saw a new comment in the chat.

              “Dudes… you’re not gonna believe this, but I think this was real…”

              “What? How?”

              “Check the news!”

              “This is on the new at my college! It’s real!”

              Angus saw the previous poster link to a local news network that he recognized. He almost didn’t dare to click the link, but he knew he wouldn’t be satisfied until he saw the truth. Sure enough, as soon as the live feed loaded, he was greeted by the sight of his own gargantuan package splayed out across the lawn. While he gawked at the surreal view of his own cock from a third person perspective, he was soon alerted to something else. The viewer count was rising rapidly! It didn’t take long for him to figure out what was going on either.

              “Looks like the growth stream is still on!” Said one of the new arrivals.

              “Now that I know this is real, I can really crack open the wallet!”

              “God, I wish that was me…”

              “Fuck yes. Can you imagine being that fuckin huge!?”

              “Huge! Huge! Huge!”

              “Let’s make him even bigger boys!”

              Angus didn’t know what to say or do. They couldn’t still grow him, could they? The PC was offline. The app was closed down! But even as he thought this, he could feel his phone buzzing and his cock pulsing.

              “Oh fuck…” Angus moaned, but once again the tone of his voice betrayed his true feelings. Instead of being a groan of disgust his voice came out as a low, horny moan of carnal glee. His colossal cock gave a lurch of glee. Pre oozed from his person-sized slit. He couldn’t believe he was so turned on by this. He couldn’t move with a cock this big. There was no way he could walk around. His cock was bigger than a city bus and his balls were the size of bungalows. He had a cock that would make a blue whale weep with shame, and it was still growing! Angus was so hot and bothered by his swelling member that he could barely even focus on his phone, but he could see the alerts piling up. His missed emails now numbered in the dozens, and it wasn’t all just duplicates either! With each new email alert he received, the dollars being donated varied widely. Some people were chipping in the old fashioned three-dollar inch, but some people were really cracking open the ol’ check book. Some of the donations were in the triple digits! Some generous donors were adding entire feet to Angus’s already ginormous schlong!

              “fuck, fuck, fuck…” Angus whined as he continued to try to dry hump the grass beneath him, but at this point his cock was so huge that his whole body could barely even budge it. Even if he rocked with all his might, his dick would barely even shift under his weight.

             As he continued to grow the crowd around him grew and grew as well. Somehow all these viewers just made Angus even hornier. It was one thing to pose for a faceless crowd on a webcam, but it was another to have a huge crowd gathered around his dick as if it was some impromptu music festival in the middle of campus. With all the people turning out to ogle his growing member, it was shaping up to be a regular Woodscock on the dorm lawn. Soon it wasn’t just the local campus new team reporting on his swelling schlong. Soon he had the major new outlets from all over reporting on what some people were calling the story of the century. Some guy with a cock the size of ship was lying buck naked in the public park.

             Some part of Agnus’s mind was still fighting against his own arousal. Some part of him still wanted to keep a level head despite his growing desire to paint the town white in one massive tidal wave of cum, but that part was quickly losing out to his growing libido. About the only thing keeping him even vaguely rooted in sanity was the phone which he clasped in his hand. He kept glancing at the newsfeed to try and take his mind out of the moment. Somehow seeing his cock in third person like this seemed to distance him from the truth at hand, but soon even this proved to just fuel the fire. As the chat continued to explode with chants of “Huge! Huge! Huge!” and “Grow him some more!” more and more links began to flood the chat. Some were to other news outlets filming Angus’s colossal cock from other angles, but others were from personal feeds from people who had gathered to explore Angus’s cock.

             “Oh my god! They're actually going to do it!” said one of the posters as they linked someone’s livestream.

              “the absolute madlads!” came a reply.

              “I wanted to be the first to go in!” came another reply.

              Do it? Go in? What were they talking about? Angus wondered. His curiosity got the better of him and actually managed to stave off his hormonal need to cream, but only for a moment. The view he was greeted to upon opening up the new livestream was enough to send his libido into hyperdrive all over again.

              When the stream fired up, Angus was greeted to the sight of another student he was vaguely familiar with waving at the camera. The guy was clad in a damp, white t-shirt and a hardhat with a huge headlight attached to it. He looked ready to go spelunking but judging by the lighting the guy appeared to be out in the daylight instead of heading into a cave, but that soon changed. The guy lifted his phone further up to give a wider view of his surroundings. Behind the guy stood a large ladder which was propped against a large, fleshy looking wall. It didn’t take Angus long to figure out what said wall was, though. It was his own cockhead! The guy was actually about to climb into Angus’s dick and record the whole thing for all the watch.

              Angus let out another horny whine. The flow of pre from the tip of his cock really began to ramp up, and after a few second delay he could see the flow of pre on the livestream begin to increase as well.

              “I think he feels me.” The spelunker said in a corny accent as if announcing his actions in a comical parody of the Crocodile Hunter. The truth was, Angus COULD feel him, but only just barely. The guy crawling into his exposed cock head felt like little more than a tickle. The dude may as well have been a gnat compared to Angus’s whale-sized schlong. At this point Angus’s cock was so huge that his back and balls were pressed against the dorm building he had fallen out of and the tip of his dick nearly reached the campus admin complex across the large, open park. The park was nearly the size of a football field, and Angus’s dick damn near filled the whole thing! Just thinking about how huge he had become made Angus once again struggle to stifle a moan.

              “Oi. This bronco’s really buckin’ now,” Said the spelunker a moment later.  

              Just the thought of having someone crawling around inside of his cock was driving Angus wild. He desperately wanted to cum, and yet at the same time he fought the urge with every fiber of his being. He couldn’t even say why he was doing it. It was almost as if some part of him was afraid this was all a dream and the moment he blew he would wake up and find himself back in his dorm with his old five-inch rod.

              Angus watched the video stream and tried to make sense of what he was seeing through his hormone-fogged senses. At first glance it looked much like any other chasm some guy might go spelunking through, but the sides were soft to the touch and glistened pink. It was hard for Angus to comprehend that these chasm walls he was watching in the video were the insides of his own cock. As angus watched the video it almost seemed like the guy’s point of view was shrinking. The walls grew further apart and reached higher and higher, but it wasn’t the guy who was shrinking. It was Angus’s cock that was growing! Even now, Angus could feel the constant buzzing of his phone and feel the constant pulsing in his cock. He couldn’t even fathom how huge he had become. His cock was so huge that he nuts pressed hard against the side of the dorms. He was so high off the ground that his nuts now crested far above the torn-out hole that was his second-floor dorm room. His balls filled much of the courtyard that spanned from the dorm hall to the campus administration office. His cock was now so huge that had it not been for the curvature of his rock-hard cock, his cock would have long since crushed the multi-story admin complex. His cock now stretched so far that the head of it loomed over the science building halfway across campus. The puffy head alone of his massive cock now dwarfed the main lecture hall AND the connected labs. The pre leaking from his cock splashed down on the street below in giant, SUV-sized gobs.

              Angus’s life as he knew it was effectively over. He had a city block sized cock, and still it was creeping up in size. He was so massive that even that large donations that had been pouring in barely made a dent in his colossal size, and yet, even if this was a dream he never wanted to wake up. He wanted to remain like this forever. He couldn’t get over how amazing having a cock you could land a 747 on felt. He couldn’t get over how amazingly hot it was to have such a massive cock and balls that no matter which direction he looked, all he saw was more and more cock and balls stretching off into the horizon. Even as his nuts got so massive that they crested at over roof of his dorm he wanted to get bigger and bigger. Even as he watched the video of the dude spelunking inside his cock and watched the light of the guy’s headlamp fade to nothing as it shone down the impossible depths of his colossal cock, Angus reveled in his own hugeness. If his fans never ran out of cash to throw at his constantly growing cock, he would be OK with that, but already he could feel the constant buzzing of his phone slowing down. His donors had nearly reached their limit, and Angus too was reaching his limit in a very different sense.

              Angus moaned and writhed. His monolithic schlong shuddered. His mountainous balls tensed up. He was going to blow soon, and everyone could tell. In the throes of ecstasy, Angus’s phone fell from his hand and landed with a plap on the soft flesh of his colossal nuts. Somehow the impact knocked web browser back a page. It was no longer focused on the spelunker’s livestream and was back to the newscast. The newscaster was eyeing the teleprompter intently and let out a gasp.

              “This just in. Apparently, this situation is the result of what has been called a “growth stream.” If my understanding is correct. People have been paying money to see this guy grow. Is that a thing?” The newscaster asked. Then something happened that made even Angus, in his addled state that he was, gasp with shock. The URL for his stream was displayed underneath the reporter. His cock was now an international news story. His humongous cock was being displayed to people all over the globe, and now those people knew of his stream!?

              As if to answer his unspoken question, his phone began to buzz even more intensely than before. He had just gone international. Now even people who don’t lurk the specific parts of the internet that had wanted to see him grow knew of his story and how to make him even larger. Whether it was out of genuine horny desire to see him grow, some kind of morbid fascination, or just the good old internet troll wanting to cash in on an already absurd situation, the donations were rolling in faster than ever before.

              The video feed on the newscast changed. It was now no longer focused on the reporter who stood in the shadow of his colossal cock. The view was now zoomed out from up high. No doubt this new video was taken from some news helicopter circling far, far above. The helicopter was so far above that Angus could neither see nor hear it, but he couldn’t deny what he saw. He recognized the area shown in the feed. It was his campus! … or what was left of it. His cock and balls now eclipsed the entire region. A solid square mile of academia had been completely eclipsed by cock. His cock was so massive that he couldn’t even see himself atop it. He may as well have been an ant atop an ambulance, the size difference was so severe, and he could still see his cock growing and growing on the news feed. At the rate he was going he would no longer just eclipse the campus. He could cover the entire town surrounding it!

              Angus almost chuckled at the thought, but he didn’t get the chance. The imagery was too much for him to take in. He gritted his teeth and let out a loud, low moan. His cock shuddered with enough force to shake the ground surrounding it. Car alarms went off for miles around, and then the dam broke. Gigantic spurts of cum, each jet with enough jizz to fill a reservoir, arced through the air, and everything went white for Angus.

              It wasn’t just the streams of cum that caused his vision to fade though. Truth be told, Angus was relatively unscathed from his perch atop his mountain-sized stones, but the sheer intensity of the pleasure that coursed through his miles of cock caused his mind to short circuit. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t see. All he could do was moan and writhe in ecstasy as he came and came again. There was no telling how long he was cumming for. It could have been seconds. It could have been hour. Time had no meaning to Angus while he was in the throes of ecstasy. All he knew was that by the time he finally started to come down from the high, it felt like it was all over far too soon.

              As the fog slowly started to lift from his mind, Angus looked out over his surroundings. All he could see was flesh spread out as far as the eye could see. His cock and balls filled the entire landscape. It was impossible for him to grasp the sheer size and scale of his package from his current position. Fortunately, he had a way to get a different perspective on the situation.

              Angus strained with all his might to reach his phone which had slid away from him during his climax. He was only just barely able to get his fingertips onto the edge of the phone, but it was enough to awkwardly fish the phone back into range. Once he had his phone back in his hands, he opened up the newscast from earlier. He watched in bemused fascination as the newscaster stood in front of his cock and balls and described the scene for the audiences at home, but what Angus really wanted wasn’t words. What he really wanted was video. Fortunately, it only took a moment for the feed to shift back to the bird’s eye view of the city. Angus marveled at how massive his cock had become. His cock and balls had completely eclipsed the entire campus and had spilled out into the surrounding city. His junk covered several city blocks. His dick had to measure in miles at this point. It may have just been the afterglow still in effect, but Angus couldn’t really consider what this meant for the long run. All he could think about for the moment was how amazing his colossal cock looked and felt, but there was someone out there thinking about the future…

              Meanwhile in the suburbs, Donald gave a whistle of approval as he watched the aftermath of his new app. The size his buddy Angus had reached exceeded even Donald’s extreme expectations.

             Donald tabbed over from the local news website over to the master copy of the growth app. He waited for a moment for the most recent donations to be processed before finally pulling the plug on this little experiment. Now that he knew what kind of market there was for a growth drive of this sort, Donald figured it was time to make some adjustments to the programming before his next test run.

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[donghuanewbsunite]

Glossary

This is just a short glossary of words and terms you might run into while watching donghua or reading web novels and manhua. Keep in mind I’m only a casual fan and don’t know chinese myself. This is just the basic of the basics that I’ve picked up from my time reading novels, manhua, and watching donghua.

!!This glossary is under construction!!

General:

Donghua - Chinese animation

Manhua - Chinese comics

Gege / Ge - Affectionate term for ‘elder brother’

Xiong / Xiong-zhang - Respectful term for ‘elder brother’

Jiejie / Jie - Affectionate term for ‘elder sister’

Didi / Di - Affectionate term for ‘younger brother’

Meimei / mei - Affectionate term for ‘younger sister’

Er - Affectionate suffix sometimes given to children or close friends

Salute – When a character in a Chinese novel salutes the author usually means they're putting their fist in their palm rather than a straight hand to their forehead. Depending on if you're reading a modern or martial arts novel, the palm will either be curled over the fist or set straight out.

Slang:

Coughing blood – There are two meanings to this saying. 1)An expression used to show how angry or emotionally distressed a character is. 2) The character is literally coughing up blood to signify internal injuries. You can generally tell which is which based off of the context of the situation.

Fuck your mom – A phrase that essentially means 'fuck you'. The reasons this is used is to prevent 'fuck' from being censored [1]

Your sister – Short for 'I fuck your sister'. It has essentially the same meaning as 'fuck you' [1]

Gnawing on melon seeds – Watching a good show [2]

Papapa – The sound of skin slapping... because... y'know... 👀

Didn't know whether they should laugh or cry – An expression to show conflicting emotions

Pretend to be a pig to eat the tiger – To hide one's real strength in order to mount a sneak attack

Face – When face is mentioned, other than meaning your actual face, authors actually referring to a characters reputation, dignity, pride, and shame. [3]

When a character thickens their face or has a thick face it means they're getting ready to or are acting shameless.

When a character is humiliated, ashamed, or embarrassed, or doing something inappropriate we say this person is losing face, meaning something like losing dignity. [3]

If you do something in order to not impair someone's fame, we say you are saving face for him, meaning maintaining somebody's dignity/pride.

Face slapping – When someone is humiliated. A face slapping moment is typically reserved for villians or unlikable characters to experience

Drinking vinegar – Used to describe a jealous character

Let's compare notes – Characters in more action based novels may use this term to ask for a friendly match with someone

Tears streamed down his face – Used to either show distress of happiness

To have eyes, but fail to recognize Mt. Tai – To be ignorant or arrogant; to fail to recognize someone or something of great status [4]

The time it takes an incense stick to burn – A poetic way of referring to a short timespan. Depending on the author, generally either 5 minutes or 30 minutes [4].

Gnashing Teeth – Displaying extreme anger or frustration [4]

Sucking in a breath of cold air – A reaction caused by shock or surprise [4]

With a flick of a sleeve – A flourish of a long sleeve; a gesture often done in a moment of passion or simply to add emphasis to a statement [4]

The Seven Orifices / The Seven Apertures – The seven apertures of the human head (2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils, 1 mouth) [4]

Netizen – Users of the internet

Keyboard 'Hero' – Basically a troll

White Lotus – An innocent, cute, and kind character

Jade-like – Common descriptor for anything refined/elegant/beautiful; an unblemished, creamy white color when referring to skin/women [4]

A frog in a well – To be ignorant/narrow-minded; to have a myopic perspective [4]

Black Belly – Two-faced; outwardly king but inwardly evil or manipulative [4]

A teacher for a day, a father for life – A student should revere and respect someone who was willing to mentor them, even if they could only teach for a short period of time... Similarly, a teacher should nurture and cherish their students as they would their own children. [4]

Genres:

YY (YiYin / 意淫) Novel – YY novels are your typical Chinese webnovels filled with tropes like arrogant young masters who don't recognize Mt. Tai, old grandpa teacher, alchemy, auctions, tournaments, faceslapping, OP MC, and so on. You can consider YY novels as fast food. They're very fun/delicious and addicting, but not exactly quality stuff [5]. The term was first used as a joke as it is is similar to another word meaning masturbate (手淫), but eventually it just stuck because people couldn't find a better way to describe the genre [6]. Overall the word basically means 'mental masturbation'.

Wuxia - Literally means “Martial Heroes”. Fictional stories about regular humans who can achieve supernatural fighting ability through Chinese martial arts training and internal energy cultivation. Themes of chivalry, tragedy, revenge & romance are common. [7]

Xianxia - Literally means “Immortal Heroes”. Fictional stories featuring magic, demons, ghosts, immortals, and a great deal of Chinese folklore/mythology. Protagonists (usually) attempt to cultivate to Immortality, seeking eternal life and the pinnacle of strength. Heavily inspired by Daoism. [7]

Xuanhuan – Literally means 'Mysterious Fantasy'. A broad genre of fictional stories which remixes Chinese folklore / mythology with foreign elements and settings. [7]

[Xuanhuan and Xianxia novels may sometimes seem similar on the surface. Look for the presence of Daoist elements (the Dao, Tin and Yang, Immortals, ect...) in the novel to easily distinguish the two – if they aren't present, then it's probably a Xuanhuan novel.]

Kehuan – Science fiction

Qihuan – Magical fiction, usually refers to novels that are set in a western culture background. It usually has kings, dragons, knights, magic, ect... [6]

Sites:

(Sometimes you'll see characters talking about or using apps or sites so I thought's I'd also list them)

QQ Chat – An instant messaging and multimedia service provided by Tencent.

Baidu – Much like Google, Baidu is the name of a company, but when most people talk about it they are actually talking about the search engine and other internet related services it provides.

Lofter – A social media site similar to Tumblr.

Weibo – A social media site similar to Twitter and Facebook.

WeChat – A social media, messaging, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent.

Bilibili – A video sharing website similar to YouTube. It also host comics and games.

JJWXC (JinJiang) - 

Fantasy and Historic Terms:

Gongzi - A honorific used when addressing noble sons

Shixiong - Older disciple brother

Shijie - Older disciple sister

Shidi - Younger disciple brother

Shimei - Younger disciple sister

Laoshi - Teacher

Shizun / Shifu - Teacher/Master

Shishu - Elder martial uncle (Disciples call other male masters ‘uncle’)

Shibo - Younger martial uncle (Same as above)

Qi – The natural energy that exist in all things

Sources:

[1] https://re-library.com/glossary-of-common-chinese-slangs-gaming-and-acgn-terms/

[2] https://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/chinese-slang-words.49990/

[3] https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/thick-skinned-cheeky.3199240/

[4] https://www.wuxiaworld.com/page/chinese-idiom-glossary

[5] http://novelfull.com/the-kings-avatar/chapter-983-happys-fanclub.html

[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/LightNovels/comments/36q51h/as_a_chinese_id_like_to_talk_about_those_chinese/

[7] https://immortalmountain.wordpress.com/glossary/wuxia-xianxia-xuanhuan-terms/

[jennymanrique]

Extras, specials, and other newsroom responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

In addition to extra coverage about the COVID-19 crisis, education outlets and teams are producing all sorts of special sections, reader callouts, and rebranded sections.  

At least 124,000 U.S. public and private schools and 55.1 million students have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Education and non-education news outlets are trying to respond with a variety of new offerings to help students, parents, and educators cope with the effects on both public and private education.

“Newsrooms have to rethink what information is useful, what scrutiny is required, and what larger questions aren’t necessarily being asked yet because we’re just struggling to get through each day,” Steve Snyder, editor-in-chief of The 74, told The Grade in an email. “We are anticipating where things will be one month, one semester, and one year from now.”

Here’s a sampling of the special COVID-19 education features The Grade found, organized by category:

Asking students to tell their own stories.

Callouts to students have been one of the most common approaches we’ve seen in the past few weeks:

The New York Times’ Coronavirus Resource Page for Students, a part of its Learning Network, has asked students to share their experiences about living through a pandemic.

The 74’s “Student Voice” series features high school students’ takes on their experiences, too, including this gem by a California high school junior, Hope Li, who wrote a post headlined, “Barking Dogs, Breathing Exercises and Eckhart Tolle — Diary of My First Day of ‘Social-Distance’  Learning at Sunny Hills High.”

She gave readers a sense of her mood, writing, “As I worked my way through that glitchy first day, it occurred to me that in small ways I was suddenly being asked to rearrange the circumstances of my life.”

Creating special sections  

Special sections are another way news outlets have responded to the crisis.

The 74 now runs a special coronavirus section that includes photo essays, practical homeschooling tips for parents, lessons learned from school leaders, and a roundup on Coronavirus Must-Reads that the team expects to update weekly.

The Hechinger Report also launched a special section, which features its reporting and readers’ stories.  Liz Willen, Hechinger’s editor-in-chief wrote in an email to readers that a recent story of a premed (and pregnant) community college student, who lacks access to a laptop, prompted a “compassionate reader” to donate a computer.

And last weekend, the Boston Globe launched Education Interrupted, an ongoing series as part of its investigative project The Great Divide. Reporters will be looking at how school closures are affecting students in the wake of the pandemic. Its first piece explores the nuances of a day in the life of a Boston 6th grader.

Mapping it out

Maps and other forms of data visualization have been popular elements of COVID-19 coverage. In an example that’s been widely admired, Education Week updates daily a national interactive map detailing school closings. The California-based nonprofit EdSource compiled a list of schools in the 942 districts of California with dates of closures and potential reopenings.

And Chalkbeat designed a map that shows the Denver metro area food distribution sites where families can get breakfast and lunch for children ages 1 to 18. This is a critical effort in a city where 64 percent of students are eligible for subsidized meals. The story is also available in Spanish.

Readers ask, reporters answer.

EdNC, an education news outlet serving North Carolina, created Ask & Answer, where readers can submit a question that a reporter will then answer after some sleuthing. Questions and topics have included the North Carolina governor’s executive orders and changes to state education policies, like this one explaining school district recommendations for continuing the 2019-20 school year.

“It became clear to me that our audience needed quicker access to primary sources redefining the contours of their lives”, said Mebane Rash, EdNC’s editor-in-chief, who noted how her publication embeds the sources in the feature for readers’ benefit.

Podcasts, cartoons, and more  

EdNC also began producing Hope Starts Here, a weekly podcast that surfaces good news stories in the education space hosted by engagement reporter Alli Lindenberg. And special episodes like this of CNN’s Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction With Dr. Sanjay Gupta, guide parents on how to talk to kids about the outbreak.

NPR’s education correspondent, Anya Kamenetz, and NPR’s art director, LA Johnson, teamed up to produce a comic for families to teach them how to turn their home into a school “without losing your sanity.”

Expanding resources for kids, KERA, the public media service for North Texas, created a special “At-Home Learning Toolkit” on their education website “with content ranging from free lesson materials to resources for keeping children engaged, active and happy at home,” said Andy Canales, director of operations and communications at KERA. The collection includes remote-teaching resources and infographics and videos to help children understand how to care for their health and emotions.

The Education Writers Association has created a new Coronavirus and Education Topics page and is airing podcast episodes where reporters on the front lines offer insights on the impact of the virus for the education systems in their communities. It also has launched a series of webinars to help journalists understand the complex issues at play amid the pandemic.

Education outlets, such as EdSource, are adding new content about the coronavirus to their existing newsletters, but overall, education teams seem to be putting most of their energy into in-depth coverage of remote learning rollouts.

Originally published here

[theonyxpath]

Full disclosure: with flying to Gen Con being two days away, my brain is squirming like a toad. So, quick points from the meeting, all arranged haphazardly just like that toad.

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant Kickstarter Woohoo: With the TC: Aberrant KS down to it’s last day, we are just thrilled by the number and quality of backers and their commentary. Considering that the original Trinity Continuum KS was for both the Core and TC: Aeon and this one is mostly for one book, it really speaks volumes for how the game is gripping people’s imaginations! Big thanks also to our “KS Concierge” James Bell for his tireless efforts and never-flagging good humor all through this one! (I’ll see James at Gen Con to deliver my personal thanks and buy him a drink or twenty!)

V5 Chicago By Night Response: We sent out the Backer PDF for CbyN last week and the comments have been all about how great it looks, and how fantastic the writing is. It’s been so wonderful to hear that our first V5 book has been given top marks for quality! We particularly love hearing how we were able to show how V5 can work in a concrete way. This was always what we intended for a new CbyN, so it’s really gratifying for the whole team! Thanks for all your positive feedback!

Dark Eras 2 art by Leo Albiero

GenCon Reminder: Like I said, going there in two days. Mighty Matt McElroy and I are representing for Onyx Path and will be walking around, hanging at our sales partners’ (Studio2 and Indie Press Revolution) booths. We’ll also stop in to where The Wrecking Crew are running demos of our games in the gaming area, and, of course, running our panels. We’ll be joined by Eddy Webb and some of our other creators on the panels, and we look forward to answering your questions. We will not have a booth – this year we chose not to have one. We’ll see if that’s a great idea, or a horrible, horrible mistake.

Twitch Goodness: If you missed it, last week we started our Onyx Path Twitch Kickoff, with TC:Aberrant and other actual play sessions, interviews, and an entire episode of the Onyx Pathcast that was broadcast live on Twitch. (Fear not, it’ll be up in audio-only form as usual for the Pathcast!) We are trying out a lot of different content; either our own or by hosting other folks’ streams, and not coincidentally moving towards “Affiliate Status”, which gives us even more fun ways for everyone to enjoy Twitch streams. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/459571845

VtR2 Spilled Blood art by Aaron Riley

5e Creature Collection Kickstarter Coming: Jon Hodgson and his crew at Handiworks Games are reaaaalllly close to launching the Kickstarter campaign for what promises to be an absolutely gorgeous book of Scarred Lands monsters! One of the cool things about this collaboration has been that it is also the launch of a new official Onyx Path Kickstarter account. Since we’ve started, our KSs have been run off of my account, with my picture in the corner and folks sending comments and questions directly to me even if it has actually been our KS “concierge” James who is running them. So Jon can run this one for Creature Collection, and we’ll see how to best migrate other KSs over to the official Onyx Path Kickstarters. Here’s a preview of the book: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/283745/Scarred-Lands-Creature-Collection-Preview-2

Next Week’s MMN Blog Guest-blogger: Will be Dixie! She volunteered and so she gets the prize! We’ll send photos of the Con – some might even be worth showing off – and any other tidbits we glean out of the madness.

New Onyx Path Team Shirt Sizes Needed: Yes, we pretty much closed our meeting with this request from Mighty Matt, and we’re hoping to get these made up in time to wear to PAX Unplugged in the Fall. It has been a few years since the first official team shirt, and our crew thinks it’s time to get some that are a bit more lightweight than our previous ones. Which just goes to demonstrate that not all of our meeting is about our amazing:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

The Trinity Continuum: Aberrant Kickstarter HAS ONE DAY LEFT!

We’ve already passed Stretch Goals that are enabling us to recreate missing first edition books, a compilation of the web comic, three sections of a book statting out the characters, digital wallpaper and dice, a backer-only T-Shirt, a jumpstart adventure, two novellas, an art budget increase, a three-part scenario including a Jumpstart called Novas Worldwide, and:

N!WE N!TERNATIONAL WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT – A new PDF product discussing the N!WE, the performers and industry personnel, and various elements of professional wrestling in the world of Aberrant!

At $115,000 and climbing, we’ve still got more fantastic Stretch Goal rewards to come, so come check it out! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/trinity-continuum-aberrant

Right now, we are working on Deviant: The Renegade as our next Kickstarter campaign, although the 5e Creature Collection for Scarred Lands may premiere first on our new official Onyx Path Kickstarter account!

ONYX PATH MEDIA

Onyx Pathcast art by Michael Gaydos

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features the crew interviewing fledgling writer and developer, beer expert, and all-around Geist fanatic, Mike Tomasek: https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

And Here’s More Media About Our Worlds:

Our Twitch channel has been alive with content over the last week, and you can find it right here:  https://www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath So many of our fans and customers have been engaging with the livestreams we’ve been running through the channel, and we’re so grateful for your involvement in everything we’ve been doing. If you missed any of the episodes of Collateral Damage, the interviews with Matthew Dawkins, Eddy Webb, or the live Onyx Pathcast, or indeed any of the other videos we’ve put up, do not despair! Those videos have all been migrated to YouTube so you can watch them again. Our channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheOnyxPath

In other news, here’s The Story Told Podcast‘s review of the C20 Player’s Guide: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/episode-32-changeling-the-dreaming-20th-anniversary-edition-players-guide-review

Have you been watching one of the best Exalted actual plays ever produced? If not, now’s the time to catch up with Beamduck‘s show right here: https://www.twitch.tv/beanduck

It’s Episode 31 of Occultists Anonymous, the Mage: The Awakening actual play. Wyrd the Seer prepares for the meeting with Mr. Johnson. Mammon readies for company. Atratus and Songbird have some study time. Here’s a link: https://youtu.be/nrAg-msByS0

Do check our Fandible for a two part actual play of Monarchies of Mau! http://www.fandible.com/

Strange Assembly perform a review of one of the most highly-acclaimed V20 sourcebooks, Anarchs Unbound: https://www.strangeassembly.com/2019/review-anarchs-unbound-vampire-the-masquerade

Review – Anarchs Unbound (Vampire: the Masquerade)

And do keep up with the Saving Throw show for an actual play of Pirates of Pugmire too! https://www.twitch.tv/SavingThrowShow

And if you’re looking for some background into the history of Aberrant, check out the Keeper of the Archive‘s series on Aberrant 1st Edition: https://youtu.be/9qkrQeLqZWQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3SkWNjQyHc

Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

ELECTRONIC GAMING

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

Running RIGHT NOW until August 11 is the Dog Days Of Summer Sale! 50% many of our Deluxe Editions!

It’s time for the Christmas In July Sale! Wild savings on PDFs all across DTRPG, including ours! Check it out – it runs until TOMORROW!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we are offering our monthly Exalted 3rd PDFs AND the Exalted 3rd Music Suites #2: Dreams of the Second Age music files on DTRPG!

CONVENTIONS!

Gen Con: August 1st – 4th THIS WEEK! Save Against Fear: October 12th – 14th GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd We’ll also be back at PAX Unplugged later this year!

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

W20 Art Book (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Redlines

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Development

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Manuscript Approval

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

Editing

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Heroic Land Dwellers (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Post-Editing Development

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)

V5 Chicago By Night Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Distant Worlds (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Indexing

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle

VtR Spilled Blood – All the art that is in is approved. Felipe is working on stuff.

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds

Trinity Continuum Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Ex3 Lunars

They Came From Beneath the Sea – Contracted.

TCFBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties – Gonna just get Michele to do this one

DR:E Jumpstart – Sam Denmark is doing this.

Deviant for KS – Contracted.

In Layout

M20 Book of the Fallen – Files with Josh

CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel

Dark Eras 2 – Files with Aileen

Proofing

Shunned By the Moon – Errata gathering.

Aeon Aexpansion

C20 Cup of Dreams – Next week.

V5: Chicago – Backer PDF sent, errata coming in.

Geist 2e

Signs of Sorcery – Inputting Errata.

At Press

Dragon Blooded – Deluxe at Studio2, shipping after Gen Con.

Dragon-Blooded Cloth Map – At Studio2, shipping after Gen Con.

Dragon-Blooded Screen – Shipped to Studio2, shipping after Gen Con.

Trinity Core Screen – At Studio2.

TC Aeon Screen – At Studio2.

Book of Oblivion – PoD proofs coming.

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs coming.

Scion Ready-Made Characters – PoD proofs coming.

Trinity Core – Files uploaded to printer, waiting for proofs.

Trinity Aeon – Files uploaded to printer, waiting for proofs.

DR: E – final PDF off for approval

EX3 Music Suite #2: Dreams of the Second Age – for sale on Weds.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Gen Con is this week! I started going in 1987 – missed a couple of years, so I’m going to say 30 years of going to the coolest congregation of fellow gamers that still holds the crown as the biggest TTRPG convention evah!

[genericpuff]

How am I supposed to find indie webcomics? I’m up-to-date on a handful of them and love them all but I’m just not sure how to find new ones. Most searches for webcomics lead you to the mainstream sites.

I mean mainstream sites are fine in and of themselves if you're following the series you like there (especially if the creators of those comics are trying to opt into things like Ad Rev), but if you're wanting to find stuff outside of Webtoons and Tapas, here are some other methods to do so:

Random Webcomic - About as unbiased as you can get, literally sends you to the website for a comic it pulls at random. All comics in the roulette are user-submitted so for the most part, they're all still active or at least have live sites. Sometimes you'll find the odd broken link tho ;0

Top Webcomics - A collective of webcomics competing for top spots. Offers plenty of ad space where people advertise their comics whether or not they make it to the top of the voting pool. And has genre listings you can browse if competitive listings aren't your thing.

The Webcomic List - A collection of webcomics submitted by users that are then crawled by the site's bots to check for new updates. It has a list for most recently updated, but also sorts by genre. Definitely one of the most "old school" listings to exist.

SpiderForest - A jury-picked collection of webcomics. Once every year or two they open submissions where people can pitch their new or ongoing comics - if they're picked, they get a special listing and features on the site, and can either have their existing website affiliated with SF branding or have a new site created for them by the staff. It's all non-profit and it mostly serves as a community of creators and readers, they are not a publisher, but they offer a wide variety of titles.

Hiveworks - Similar concept to SpiderForest except they're an actual publisher so they offer even more benefits to their selected creators including print deals and merchandising, but as such they're way harder to get into. Their submissions have been closed for a VERY long time but they offer a wide array of comics that typically appeal to general-audiences (i.e. there are no NSFW comics AFAIK).

GlobalComix - A platform that, while not new anymore, has been making strides in competing with platforms like Webtoons and Tapas. Has a lot of Western-style comics but their library variety has been growing and I'm pretty sure they're planning on releasing an app soon (if they haven't already).

ComicFury - The final frontier of old school early 2000's webcomic platforms. Run by one guy, this site allows for full HTML/CSS customization, domain hosting, and all those fun little things from an era long gone by. The front page sorting is set to "Recently updated" by default so there's no algorithm bullshit, no editors playing favorites, just classic 2000's era reading.

As a final note, the best part about browsing for comics that have their own sites is that they usually include listings of other comics that are similar to their own. Sites like Tamberlane will often have roulettes of other recommended comics that you can sift through.

There are plenty other comic aggregation sites out there too, of course, but these ones should help you get started if you're looking for other platforms and archives that aren't subject to corporate scrubbing or picky algorithms. It helps decentralize the Internet just a little bit more and rejuvenate what made webcomics so amazing in the first place - independent ownership, accessibility, and unapologetic existence.

Enjoy! <3

[misscecil]

How To Be A Great Art Ally to your Creative Friends.

Slightly tweaked from my 2015 post How To Be A Great ART ALLY

I’ve been having a lot of heart to hearts lately with my friends who are authors and artists and we’re all saying the same thing: It is getting harder and harder for everyone who isn’t in the top 5% of their industry to get the word out about work they are doing.

Because of the way the industries are now, many artists are not getting the marketing and push that they deserve or need. Much of that promotion and publicity now falls on the artist’s shoulder. Your artist friend may have a good career, but unless they are crazy lucky, or have the “it” thing of the moment, your artist friend is probably really struggling.

“What. But they have so many books out! They are on tour all the time! They are always doing some wacky play!”

Sadly, about 90% of artists are struggling and barely making a living wage. According to the NY Times (1/5/19) The median wage for most authors is $20,300 

Most of your creative friends have full-time day jobs on top of their full-time art careers. Or they are taking a lot of side speaking gigs, lecturing or school visits and other supplemental work to add to their income to meet basic needs. 

Remember, every new project that they do is like starting from scratch. 

For example, many of the people who I know who are not artists see all the stuff that I am doing and think that it’s going so great for me that I don’t need their help to get the word out about my books. But I do. All of your artist friends (even the most famous ones) need your support all the time.

To be a great Art Ally for any of your author/artist friends I’ve drummed up a list of things that you can do. I’ve focused on books, since I’m an author, but I’ve added helpful tips within to give you ideas on how to help your music, performer, filmmaker, comic book, visual artist and indie game maker friends.

1) Pre-order their stuff. Seriously. If your friend has a book (or CD or DVD or indie game or comic book) coming out pre-order it. Pre-orders give the publishing company an indication of interest and can help with print runs. Good pre-orders sometimes help a book because the publishing company may give a book a little push with extra marketing money and publicity based on those numbers.

2) Show up. If your friend has a reading or something, go to it. “But I went to it once for another book!” That’s great! You are a supporter! But, every book is a whole new thing! (Go to their rock show! Play! Art gallery opening! If your friend is in a film/made a film go opening weekend, that’s when the box office counts. Or order it on VOD the week it drops. Or buy the game the week it comes out. You get the idea.)

3) When you are there, buy the book. “But I already pre-ordered it!” Yeah, I know. But buying it at the store or the reading helps the bookstore and the numbers and will help your friend do another reading there the next time. This is especially important if your friend is doing a reading not in their hometown. (If your friend is a musician, buy merch because that might be how they are paying for gas. If your friend is an artist, buy a piece of art because that might equal a bag of groceries.) (comics peeps put your pals book on your pull list) (etc)

3a) “But argh! This is not my kind of book. I don’t read that genre. It’s not for me. I’m not a kid/teen.” Sure, that’s fair. The book might not be for you. But I bet you one million dollars that you know somebody that the book (or other thing) would be perfect for. Maybe a strange aunt? Maybe your weird nephew? Maybe your co-worker? And remember the holidays are always just around the corner! Why not get it signed? Think of it as a back up present. You can give it at a white elephant exchange. If all else fails, get a copy and donate it to your local library or if it’s a kids book, to the school library nearest you.

4) Signal boost their work. While it may look to you like everybody knows about your friend’s book, they probably don’t. Remember that we are all kind of in a bubble when it comes to social media. Authors (and artists of all kinds) are always looking for new readers/audience and you totally have a bunch of friends that your author/artist friend doesn’t know. And those friends might have never heard of your friend’s book, movie, game, music and it might be right up their alley. And those friends have friends that you don’t know. And so on. And so on. So every once in a while, if you like and in a way that you are comfortable with, an easy Art Ally action is to Tweet, Instagram, Pintrest or Facebook (or repost) something about that person’s art thing on the social medias! This signal boosting helps to get new eyeballs on the book (or art thing) that your friend is doing.

5) Review it / Rate it. Perhaps you are on Goodreads? Or perhaps you frequent Amazon or B&N or Powells? If you really are a fan of the book (or art thing), a simple way to help boost your friend’s work is by giving it a star rating or a review. (For musicians you can do this at those places as well. Also you can add their album to your streaming site and rate it! For films rate it on Netflix if it’s there! For games there are places to do this too!)

5a) For books, on Goodreads it’s also helpful if you add it to your to read shelf. It’s both helpful before the book comes out and when the book comes out. So if you haven’t done it already, go to it! Add all your friends books to your to read shelf. It’s not too late!

6) Make sure that it is in your local library branch! Libraries are the biggest purchasers of books! An author wants their book to be read! Libraries help with that! Maybe you are librarian? Or someone super close to you is a librarian? This is where you can really help to get it on the library radar by making sure that it is on the order list for your branch or for your system. Sidenote: Many libraries are too poor to purchase books this is a great place for you to donate that extra book!

7) Consider using it in your class! Many books have reader guides or teacher guides. Are you a teacher? Or is someone super close to you a teacher? If you love the book, Or if not that, you can donate the book to your (or your teacher pal’s) school library or classroom library for students to enjoy.

8) Book Club it. If you have a book club, suggest your group read your friend’s book. Or maybe just have a one-off book club and get a group of your friends together to read your friend’s book. If your friend writes for kids, do a mother/ daughter or father /son book club with a group of people. I’m 100% certain that your author friend would be delighted to come over (or if they live far, Skype) to discuss their book with your book club. (for musicians you could host a living room show at your house)

9) Ask your art pal to come in and speak! Maybe your school or library has a budget to bring in a variety of guest speakers for classrooms or assemblies? Your friend would be perfect for this. If your institution has no budget, you can still ask your friend to come and speak! Lots of authors have sliding scales and can organize a way to sell their own books and that can offset a pro bono visit. Also, it will help them to get new readers. Being an art ally is all about getting new audiences for your arty friends. (Your other artist pals would make great classroom / assembly visitors as well.)

10) Vote and Nominate. It’s possible that there are lists that you can vote on or nominate your friends for that they may be eligible for and deserving. This could be anything from your local publicly voted on thing to a list that is for professionals which you might be. It’s easy for everyone to remember to nominate the big best sellers of the year or the debut books that are getting the big pushes. But there are many midlist books that are wonderful and get lost in that shuffle. Make sure to champion the midlist! They really need help to be seen! (This is the same for all of your artist friends. There is always a thing that is going on where they can use your vote or nomination. You’ve gotten those emails / updates.)

11) Hand sell. Maybe you are a bookseller? Make sure that the book is on the shelf. And then, when and if you love it, hand sell it! You can also help by making sure that the book is still on the shelf once it’s sold. Many stores don’t automatically re-order a book if it doesn’t sell more than a certain amount. If you are not a bookseller, you can still hand sell by just talking up the book to people. (Talk up their music, game, comic, play, and movie.)

11a) If you work in retail anywhere and your pal is a musician and you like their music: Try putting their album on at work! Who knows? Maybe someone will ask you who that swell band is? Your pal may gain a new listener!

12) Be a Microphilanthropist. Support their Patreon/Kickstarter/Go Fund me.  It really helps to get that support whether it be a small patreon contribution or a small contribution to getting that dream project done. Support their Indiegogo or Kickstarter or Patreon. For your other artist friends who are making movies, plays, albums, comics, indie video games support their crowdfunding or patreon effort. Really. You can totally afford the $5-10 level (even if you think the project is lame.) for a crowdfunding and $1 for patron. And it will really help them and boost morale.

13) Be a good literary citizen. If you are an author, remember to be a good literary citizen. Promote yourself, but also do stuff for the larger literary community. Participate and include others. There are many things you can do. You can organize events. You can pitch panels. You can show up to things. You can volunteer to be a judge for things or to moderate panels (be a good moderator if you do.) You can write essays about other works. Remember to extend past your own inner circle of friends to include people who you might not know. Being an artist is very hard. There are many ups and downs in a career. At some point everyone goes through a hard time and needs help. Avoid the cool kids table mentality. Be kind. When you are on the top, don’t forget to keep helping your community. Diversify your literary and artistic world. (Other artists, you know what this is in your own field. Art citizens for the win!)

14) Invite your friend over to dinner. Or buy them dinner. Or have a potluck. Everyone could use a good night out with friends and conversation. It’s a spirit booster. No lie.

[acaseforpencils]

The Ink Well Foundation.

The Ink Well Foundation is a non-profit that helps bring smiles to the faces of children facing adversity such as illness, neglect, and abuse. I cannot begin to express how big of an honor it is to have Elizabeth Winter on Case—this interview brought me to tears, and it means a lot to share her message on here, so that you all can help more children in need to be able to connect with this incredible foundation.

Bio: I am the Founder and Executive Director of the Ink Well Foundation. Growing up, I had cancer my entire childhood—it was a rare cancer that kept getting misdiagnosed, which meant a fair amount of biopsies and days in the hospital, and finally major surgery where I was told I might wake up without a leg. I am very fortunate in that the doctors were able to remove all the cancer without amputating, and I have been cancer-free since I was about 20 years old. 

That experience gave me a lot of empathy and compassion for kids facing long, isolating hospital stays. There were also other issues during my childhood: I experienced a lot of abandonment with a mother who just could not play the role of mother, and who eventually died when I was fifteen. In general, I just had a pretty severe lack of affection and emotional support growing up. All that made me very tough, in some ways too tough and it wound up creating only further isolation and pain. 

As an adult, I saw that pain mirrored in other children's eyes and I began to seek out a way to connect with them, to help them and myself learn to nurture and heal together. I strongly feel that genuine human bonding can fuel both physical and emotional healing. I also think getting out into nature and carrying that same respect to all wildlife helps us to become humble and connected in a very powerful way, so we stress those ideas in our work often.

In 2005, I was working in animation in New York City, and I stood up in a meeting at work one day, and asked if any of the other artists would like to come along with me to draw with kids facing illness and hardship. A couple people raised their hands, and we went together to Gilda's Club out in Brooklyn (that club house has since closed, but we still go to the one in Manhattan). The artists who came along in those early years, like Rami Efal and Ray Alma, Pedro Delgado and Sergei Aniskov—those people are all still volunteers today! That says so much to me about the kind of people this work attracts. We've all become like family over the years and I love those guys so much. 

It all began at Gilda's Club, but then I reached out to places like the Ronald McDonald House, St. Mary's Hospital and Bellevue Hospitals, and we slowly but surely became accepted and welcomed at healthcare and at-risk support centers all across New York, because the kids loved what we did, and at then end of every event they were begging us to come back. So we always did! That is the true mark of success for me every time, when the kids are yelling at us to get back there as soon as we can.

A few years ago, I learned about the great organization on the Upper East Side, The Society of Illustrators. Their Executive Director, Anelle Miller, connected me with all these other great artists like Stefano Imbert, Bil Donovan, Abby Merrill, and Elana Amity (who is now our Event Director at Mount Sinai Hospital, where she hosts a monthly live drawing call-in show that beams to all the kids' hospital rooms at once). They draw along with us and call or text in with questions and comments. It's hilarious and adorable. We also connected with the great people of the National Cartoonists Society, and wonderful artists like Ed Steckley, Adrian Sinnott, Howard Beckerman, Tim Savage, Marty Macaluso, Joe Vissichelli and so many more. 

After MTV Animation New York shut down, pretty much all my colleagues and I from great shows like Beavis and Butthead, Daria, The Head, and Celebrity Death Match all moved out west. So I had this great group of talented friends still living there, and based on the Ink Well's popularity in NYC, I thought, let's give it a shot there too! I reached out to my former colleague from Rugrats and Wild Thornberrys, Joseph Scott, and asked if he'd be interested in running things there. He is now heading up all our operations in L.A. and he is just the most phenomenally kind and talented person on earth. With his art skills he could do whatever he wanted but he devotes a huge amount of time to the kids we work with and I'm so moved by his giving spirit and boundless good energy. And Michael Daedalus Kenny is also stepping up in a leadership role as our newest Event Director, we've got amazing artists like Marla Frazee of Boss Baby genius, Monica Tomova from SpongeBob, Jeanette Moreno, king of The Simpsons, Chris Harmon from Futurama, Ashley Simpson from Phineas and Ferb, Christian Lignan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, graphic novelist, Jeremy Arambulo and so many others so we're in great hands there. I just wish the traffic weren't such a problem! It really is tough to get around that city, unlike NYC where there's a decently functioning subway that goes to all our locations, so getting around is no real trouble comparatively.

Tools of choice:  Our events are usually very handmade by design so that the kids can feel like they could do all of this easily by themselves. So we come up with themes like, “Who is your Superhero?,” and we ask the kids to focus on their strengths and what superpowers they wish they would have, and we draw their portraits as such. We are not art therapists, but we feel these event themes help to make the kids focus on positivity and their potential, and therefore help them to bond and heal. 

We do sometimes get more elaborate, like when we teach stop motion, claymation, and we once even taught them how to build homemade rockets on the roof of Bellevue Hospital! One of our Event Directors at the time, Nathan Schreiber, used to come up with the most fantastic science-focused events. He now runs a company called Science Ninjas, that helps kids learn about science with fun card games. But usually it's simple by design.

We are extremely fortunate to have Blick Arts as a sponsor. Their support enables us to provide each child with their own art kit after each event so that they can keep creating on their own after they learn new skills with us so thanks to them we have a lot of the arts tools we need.

Tool I wish existed: I think we do great working with anything we've got lying around- we emphasize the potential of just about anything to become art: we often create characters out of inanimate objects, make flip books, sculptures and puppets— using everything from card stock to socks to toothpicks and gum drops. We keep it accessible and inventive. 

How can we support The Ink Well Foundation? Because our volunteers are by definition "the artists behind the kids' favorite books, films, comics, and TV shows," we don't solicit volunteers from the general public. We do have an online application on our site, so other professionals that meet our criteria in the illustration, animation, and cartooning industries are welcome to apply there. 

What the general public can do is to help us spread the word so that more children can see that others are going through what they're going through, and also so that they see examples of adults believing in them and encouraging them. We try to promote the idea of art as self-expression and a way to get through trying times, ideally together. Connectivity and encouragement are critical to healing, and honestly, to just building a better world. So we talk about that a lot on our social media and at the events themselves. We also honor the kids' intelligence by talking about art in general there— we highlight classic and new artists and ideas and encourage them to learn from those masters as they develop their own skills.

Because we are a very small 100% volunteer-run organization, we focus on giving the kids the greatest events possible, and sometimes that means we don't have a lot of time for social media, self-promotion, and fund-raising. So spreading the word is huge and we are always extremely grateful for, and in need of, any financial donations. 

Where are Ink Well Foundation events held? We operate in New York City and Los Angeles because that's where the top artists in our fields are concentrated. We go to hospitals and at-risk support centers like Ronald McDonald House, Gilda's Club, Bellevue, St. Mary's, Mount Sinai, Childhelp, Covenant House and more. You can see the full list here. 

How can children who don't live near Ink Well Foundation events benefit from your Pen Pals Program? This is another reason we want people to spread the word. Loved ones of a child experiencing serious illness or hardship, who is physically or geographically unable to attend our events, can apply to have a special artwork sent straight to them. We ask the kids what their favorite animated films, TV shows, or illustrated books are, and then we have an artist who actually worked on that production make something tailored to that child. We then frame it up, and send it off to them by mail. 

We've done this with artists from SpongeBob, Captain Underpants, and just a week ago, we delivered a beautiful drawing of Curious George that our Event Directors, Franz Palomares and Lisa LaBracio (both of whom worked on Curious George) lovingly made. This was for a girl named, Maryanne who lives in Florida. She suffers from a rare disease called, vein of galen malformation that has led to brain damage and vision loss. She is unable to talk or walk or eat through her mouth and she suffers seizures but she understands everything around her, and she can feel texture. So Franz and Lisa made her Curious George playing in a sand box, and they glued real sand into the picture, so that Maryanne could feel that, and enjoy the art on multiple levels. Maryanne's mother, Sandra, said that she was thrilled, and that she loves to hold it. 

Our hearts are full being able to share these works with kids who need that moment of light, and that knowledge that an adult they admire, someone who doesn't even know them well, can care enough about them to take the time to create careful, tailor-made artworks just for them. We hope that helps to bring a smile in the moment, and build self-worth long term.

Misc. I'd like to mention that everything we do is 100% free of charge. No one gets paid, no money ever changes hands for the art. We have brilliant artists like Peter de Séve who is on our board and attends many events, while also creating characters for Ice Age, The Little Prince, and all his New Yorker covers. He could get a mint for his works, but he comes down and does this for free, and that's a testament to the power of that loving connection we all feel when we are just selflessly helping one another.

I feel this most acutely when I'm working with youth who have suffered abuse and neglect. We have an Event Director, Jane Archer, who leads our work at Bellevue Hospital. Many of those kids are there because they have been through unendurable trauma, and Jane connects with them beautifully. She begins with a meditation where we all envision our strengths together, we talk about our talents, and hopes for a brighter day, we imagine embodying those gifts and then we gently, patiently, ask the kids to help us draw characters step by step. Many kids start out very suspicious and resistant, even angry. But by the end of the events they are almost always laughing and teasing us, and they don't want to stop creating. It is my greatest joy to experience that transition and I hope we may continue to spread this support and faith in one another for many years to come.

Website, Etc: 

We are @inkwellkids on every platform:

Website

Facebook 

Instagram

Twitter

Find more posts about art supplies on Case’s Instagram! There is a Twitter as well. If you enjoy this blog, and would like to contribute to labor and maintenance costs, there is also a Patreon!

[stringnarratives]

What You Leave Behind: “Atlantis: The Lost Empire”

[This post brought to you with major spoilers for Disney’s 2001 animated film “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” along with some history and math.]

For many, there’s a sense of magic around Disney films. Whether it’s romantic happily ever afters, selfless anthropomorphic animals, or arcade characters run amuck, most films in the Disney Animated canon achieve some sort of joyous acceptance, even if just in the memories of its viewers. However, as with any perceived rule, even the charm of Disney has its exceptions, and a few films in particular have drawn the short straw when it comes to that fan nostalgia. 

Wedged in-between the Disney Renaissance Era’s last film “Tarzan” in 1999, and “The Princess and the Frog” in 2009 (in 2008, “Bolt”  would would be the transition film leading to our current era, known as the Disney Revival), eleven “Second Dark Age” or “Experimental Era” films were released with on-average lower levels of financial and critical success immediately following the turn of the 21st Century. On Box Office Mojo’s ranking of total gross for every Disney-parented studio film, “Lilo and Stitch” (2002) ranks the highest of this era’s films at #80, and “Treasure Planet” (also 2002) comes in the lowest at #317 (and is also the only of these films to gross less than its total budget). However, while it may rank in the top 100 for Disney overall, the same site reports that “Lilo and Stitch” earned $167,061,223 less in theaters than Disney’s hardest hitter in the traditional animation category, “The Lion King” which came out 8 years before. 

The films produced in this "Second Dark Age” were both transitional and non-traditional for the company, shying away from the Renaissance films’ proclivity for musical numbers, leaning more heavily into computer animation, and exploring new genres of film to pay homage to, including science fiction, buddy comedy and Western. Whether the decade-long dip in popularity was due more to wobbly-leggedness that came with the experimental productions, a greater saturation of competition for animated films in the market, a defiance of the audience’s expectations or a combination of any or all of the above, there seem to be an Internet-full of possibilities. (I recommend researching them yourself, if you’re interested.) The overall consensus is that the majority of Disney films released between 1999 and 2009 are generally less beloved than their Renaissance or Revival counterparts.

While I didn’t realize it at the time, I came to prime movie-watching age in this era. Where I learned language, colors, numbers and animals to the tunes of the Renaissance Era songs, I developed artistic fascination, a sense of humor, and interest in what it takes to actually tell a story alongside the adventures of this Disney dead zone (and, to be entirely fair, some of DreamWorks Animation’s competitive offerings of the same period: “Road to Eldorado” [which apparently also was not considered a commercial success] and “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” [which seems to have done alright]). I spent many summer breaks popping those DVDs in to play one after another, memorizing the exposition of “Treasure Planet,” singing along to Rob Thomas’s closing number in “Meet the Robinsons.” They still make regular appearances on rough, rainy adulthood nights. 

While the “Second Dark Age” films may not have left much of an imprint on the popular consciousness as a whole, they certainly left their mark on me, and one in particular has legacy buried deeply in its DNA. 

“Atlantis: The Lost Empire” -- released in 2001-- centers around a 1914 expedition to find the titular lost city, a technologically advanced island civilization lost to the sea centuries before. Funded by an off-beat millionaire (John Mahoney), and guided by the inherited knowledge of linguist and cartographer Milo Thatch (Michael J. Fox), a team of mercenaries and specialists discover that the lost city is not only still intact below the Earth’s crust, but still inhabited by its long-lived citizens under King Kashekim Nedakh (Leonard Nimoy) and his daughter, Princess Kidagakash Nedakh (Cree Summer). When the mercenaries betray the party, kill the king and kidnap the princess, who has melded with the city’s power- and life-source, the expedition specialists are roused to action to protect the city they had once considered an artifact.

From the beginning, the viewer sees Milo as a man driven by legacy: Between the research of his explorer grandfather, who raised him with stories of Atlantis, and the writings of The Shepherd’s Journal, which serves as a guide to the city, his whole life is dedicated to the pursuit of both personal and ancient history. He both seeks to fill his grandfather’s shoes as a scholar and provide the scientific world with proof that Atlantis isn’t just a fairytale, but a real civilization that once flourished. At the beginning of the film he (like some, but not all adventure archaeologists before him) seeks to return proof of Atlantis to the surface to solidify a legacy for both himself and his grandfather, but abandons this soon upon realizing that the city is still inhabited, opting instead to preserve the legacy of Atlantis’s culture by helping to rebuild after the events of the film.

“Sometimes I get a little carried away. But, hey, you know, that's what this is all about, right? I mean, discovery, teamwork, adventure. Unless, maybe, you're just in it for the money.”

Up to the point that the mercenaries forcibly take Kida, Milo’s attitude is placed in some contrast with that of the other specialists on the crew, who admit flat-out that they joined the expedition to make money, though these perspectives are not without nuance. Soon, the crewmembers open up to Milo about the legacies they carry as well: "Vinny" Santorini's (Don Novello)’s family flower shop, Dr. Joshua Sweet (Phil Morris) following in his father’s footsteps as a physician and maintaining a connection with his mother’s Arapaho culture, Audrey Ramirez (Jacqueline Obradors) taking over her retired father’s machine shop. Later in the film, Milo references back to this conversation, implying that a few had plans to continue their family businesses - investment in their own legacies - with the money they would have received upon returning to the surface.

“You're wiping out an entire civilization, but, hey, you'll be rich. Congratulations, Audrey. Guess you and your dad'll be able to open that second garage after all. And, Vinny, you-you can start a whole chain of flower shops. I'm sure your family's gonna be very proud. But that's what it's all about, right? Money.”

When the crew decides to fight for the Atlanteans and forfeit their payment, they place themselves in direct opposition to the true antagonists of the film, Commander Lyle Rourke (James Garner) and Lieutenant Helga Sinclair (Claudia Christian), who describe themselves as “adventure capitalists,” interested in getting rich at any cost. If they have any legacy that they’re trying to protect, it’s never mentioned in the movie, and the lack of regard they display for the Atlantean legacy set them apart from the rest of the characters in a significant way.

In addition to our explorers’ legacies, the Atlantean characters -- especially Kida. In her 2018 SYFY FANGRRLS article “All Hail Kida Of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Disney’s Forgotten Queen Of Color,” writer and podcaster Afiya Augustine not only describes Kida’s legacy as Disney’s first animated queen of color, but also succinctly describes the history she carries with her, both as a preserver of her people and the heir to historically royal responsibilities, like bonding to the city’s main source of power.

“Turns out, the crystal must bond with a royal host — and Kida, much like her mother, was chosen by the crystal in order to unleash its immense power to protect its world. That’s right — Kida is not only a protector by choice, but she’s been chosen to be such by blood. Like their precious stone, Kida powered the survival of her people.”

Which means that, by the end of the film, Kida is charged with not only restoring her civilization to its former glory, but also carrying the legacy of both her parents, now deceased. It’s a heavy load for a strong character, and one that Kida handles with gravity throughout the film.

And that’s just the character design.

In addition to being the first Disney film to feature a queen of color (rather than the “princess” title that had been utilized in previous films), “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” was also Disney’s first animated science fiction film, launching a jaunt into the genre that would include a other “Experimental Era” films like “Lilo and Stitch” and “Treasure Planet,” leaving its own (generally unacknowledged) mark on the canon itself. It, like many adventurer archaeologist stories before it, pays homage to many a story of lost world before it, from Jules Verne’s depictions in the mid-1800s on through the pulp adventure novels and into the territory of one Indiana Jones. Its art style, with its blocky shadows and angular motifs, pays serious homage to production designer and comic book artist Mike Mignola, an item of his legacy in turn.

“Atlantis” may not be a popular Disney film. It may never have gotten its true sequel or its spin-off television show. Your average casual Disney fan in 2019 might not would have known it existed if it weren’t on Netflix (for now, anyway). But this is not to say that the film didn’t leave its mark, both on the people who did see it and enjoyed it and still enjoy it almost 20 years later, and on the canon in which I truly believe it has rightfully earned its place.

[peterchristensen89-blog]

A Perfect Fit - Chapter 1

Peter Parker is a high-school graduate, on his way to Empire State University.  As a potential Stark Internship candidate, Peter dreams of the day working under his idol, Tony Stark.   Unfortunately, life remains as cruel as ever.

An attack by a supernatural gang, The Demons, leaves the streets of Queens laced with a new bio-plague.  With thousands dead at the hands of "The Devil's Breath", only Peter Parker stands alive in the wake of the attack, saved by his Aunt May.  Transformed by Devil's Breath, Peter learns from Tony Stark that he's far from human anymore.  A Super-Soldier with the power of the Hulk, the control of Captain America, and the stealth of Black Widow.  And, oddly enough, he can stick to surfaces like a spider.  

As the only living human with an immunity to the plague, Peter is the last hope of the Avengers.  The only weapon they have against The Demons and their cruel leader, Mister Negative.  With his newfound powers and training from Iron Man himself, Peter races against the clock with the help of the Avengers to stop The Demons.  To stop Mister Negative's crusade of revenge, and save the life of his last living relative.

By any means necessary.

Read on A03 or Below the Read More

“May, I’m home!”

Peter stumbled inside the Parker apartment, both arms donning plastic bags. He kicked off his sneakers, popping out his earbuds, and made his way through the modest apartment. Pausing in front of his Aunt’s bedroom, he heard the sound of a shower running. That, and the sound of her off-tempo singing with the radio. Peter rolled his eyes, laughing.

Stepping into his room, Peter felt the summer breeze blowing through the open window. The bustling street of Queens, New York echoed from down below. He tripped over his box of high school memorabilia, knocking out a wrinkled cap and gown.

Peter sat at his computer desk and stared inside of a bright pink terrarium. A fuzzy tarantula scurried in her home at the sight of her owner.

“Karen, you are not going to believe my haul today.” Peter collected his pet and sat her on the top of his hand. With his other hand, he produced a red and gold metallic action-figurine from a thrift store bag. “Look at it! A limited edition 2016 Iron Man Mk 2 Comic-Con exclusive metal-plated model! 80% off! Know why?”

Karen scurried up Peter’s arm, coming to rest on the top of his shoulder, facing away from the figure.

“Oh, come on! At least pretend like you care! Ned’s gone off to MIT, and MJ’s off saving the rainforests! You’re the only one I can talk to!” Peter tugged at the figurine’s arm, which popped off with zero effort. “See that? A huge discount all because the figure’s arm falls off! As if someone couldn’t spend a few hours, a little ingenuity, and five bucks on fixing that! They act like because it’s broken, it’s not worth anything…”

Peter scoffed, staring around his room. Most of his electronics were jury-rigged or in varying states of repair. Like his figurine, most of Peter's possessions were a thrift-store price for retail value.

His eyes fell on a shelf of dozens of other Iron Man figures, each their own shape, size, and model. All, at one point, had been an imperfect copy, like the one in his hand.

“You’d think people would have a little more respect for the world’s greatest hero.” Peter sat the figure on his desk, beside a whole host of tools and parts. As he lifted his head, Peter’s eyes fell to a photograph beside his computer, beside a badge of gold and blue.

Peter picked up the frame, seeing himself as a child in the arms of an officer of the NYPD. Both were smiling. “Well… Second greatest hero…”

Scurrying across Peter, Karen came to rest beside the photograph. She crawled to the top of the frame and settled on Ben Parker’s head.

Sighing, Peter leaned backward in his chair and chuckled. “You’re going to have to give me a break on that one, Uncle Ben… I’ll always love you, but Tony Stark is my idol.” Peter looked past the picture and up at his ceiling. Every inch of it covered with posters of Iron Man, Stark Expos, The Avengers, and Tony Stark. “Mr. Stark is one of the smartest people on the planet! He's Iron Man, Uncle Ben, the coolest superhero of them all! He even turned Stark Industries into something that’s going to change the world! When everyone tried to ignore their climate change findings last month, Mr. Stark flipped off congress and told the President of the United States to suck a dick! He’s so cool, Ben! He’s the man that science and the world need right now, more than anybody!”

Peter put the frame next to the badge, sighing as he collected Karen from the photograph. “But, even then… You’ll always be my number one hero. Always.”

Closing his eyes, Peter’s shoulders fell. He sat in silence, letting out a tired sigh. “…anyway...“ Peter sat a fussy Karen back into her terrarium. Karen made herself home inside a hollowed out plastic tree.

Peter sighed, collecting the other sack, emblazoned with a crimson “ESU” graphic. “My less impressive, haul, Karen.” Peter shook his head, dumping out a pile of college textbooks. “All those AP classes and I still have to take a crap ton of useless classes, Karen! Fun tip, Karen, “Full-Ride” does not always mean “Full-Ride.” Do you know how much this semester, in books alone, is going to cost me? I’ve already burned through the entire Midtown Decathlon Scholarship!” He groaned, laying his head down atop the books, tracing his hand on the glass of Karen’s home. “To put it in a way that you would understand... Enough crickets to feed about a million of you every day for a lifetime.”

Karen poked out from her tree for a moment, her front legs buzzing at the mention of food.

Peter rolled his eyes, reaching for a second plastic container. He popped a few crickets inside the terrarium for Karen to hunt. “…I don’t even want to think about how much the materials are going to cost if I get into the Stark Internship. Do you think they pay for that, or does that come out of the check they pay you? No way it’s free, though. Nothing in life is free.”

“Wait…”

Peter gasped and rushed to his computer. He clicked through his bookmarks to the Stark Internship Application website. After logging in and slamming his mouse many times, Peter reached the "News" section of the site.

 ~

 All dissertations are currently under review.

 Due to the high volume of candidates for the 2019 selections, decisions for internships and research grants will deliver via certified mail in approximately 3 months.

 ~

Peter sunk back into his chair, groaning. He stood up, pacing back and forth in his room. “It’s been three and a half months since the cutoff, Karen! What are they waiting for?!” He stopped, staring outside the window, and to Stark Tower, far off in the distance. It glimmered in the summer sun, like a star in the night sky, so close, but still so far.

A chill overcame Peter, despite the warm sunlight all around him. “What if my dissertation didn’t even make it into the main pile they looked at? Do they even send rejection notices about those?” He folded his arms, head dropping. “What if I mailed to the wrong address? No, no… That’s impossible, I mailed it certified, and made May double checked the address.” Peter clutched his stomach, overcome with a nauseous pain. “What if that pissed someone off?” Peter’s pacing intensified. “What if I made the front desk guy at Stark Industries get up off his butt, and ruined his coffee break? What if he threw it in the trash?! What if they never saw it? Should I call? Should I make sure they even got it?” Peter groaned, slapping himself in the face. “It’s past the deadline! I should have checked BEFORE the cutoff! Now it’d be too late!”

Peter leaned against a wall, sliding down and crumpling into a heap, tucking his legs beneath his chin. “Or what if they hated it?” He turned, now tucked into a tight ball. “What if they took one look at my essay and laughed me into a burn pile?” He banged his head against the ground. “Was I stupid to talk about you and Ben in my essay? I mean… You and Ben are both a big part of my research. You guys inspired it, so I felt like you deserved mention… I thought it was personable. I thought… I should just be myself?”

As Karen munched on a cricket, Peter whined, now splayed on his back and covering his eyes. ”Why didn’t I listen to Ned? Nobody wants that!”

“Can’t you have a mental breakdown with your friends, like a normal kid?”

Peter screamed, spinning around as he spotted May in the doorway to his bedroom. Her long brown hair still damp from a shower. She smirked, hiding the faintest sign of wrinkles that had overtaken her face in recent years.

“Aunt May!” Peter gestured to Karen. “How rude can you be? This is a private conversation!”

May rolled her eyes, hands tucked behind her back as she let herself inside Peter’s room. “Oh please, you’re acting like this is the most embarrassing shit I’ve caught you talking with that thing? Like, oh… Senior year, about a month before Prom, talking to Karen about asking out that cute Junior? You know, the time you went on and on about how much you liked his butt when he wore tight jeans?”

“That never happened and you never heard any of that!” Peter’s face flushed, eyes planted on the floor.

“I know, I know-“ May chuckled, wrapping an arm around Peter’s shoulder and tucking him in close for a side-hug. She smirked, prodding Peter on the nose. “I happened to overhear your crisis about the Stark Internship. Which reminded me our mailman made me sign for a certified letter while you were out.” May presented Peter with a silver envelope, embellished with an embellished "S". “Stark Industries?”

Peter hitched his breath, standing still for far too long.  He forgot to breathe as his body shook, gasping for air. He struggled to grasp onto the letter, requiring May’s help from dropping it. The sender was the Stark Internship Selection Committee.

“…it’s here. This… This is it.” Peter choked out, voice cracking mid-sentence.

“Yep,” May said, stepping backward, clapping her hands together, and waiting for Peter to act. “Well?”

Peter stared at the letter, noticing how thin it was. Roughly the same size as the junk mail they received daily. His arm dropped, the envelope dangling in his hand.

“Not going to open it?” May slid beside Peter, clasping a hand on his shoulder. She offered a sympathetic smile. “All these months of teenage angst for nothing?”

Peter turned away, hiding the red on his face. “I’m scared, May…. This is…” He bit his lip, hand clenching against the letter, crumpling the edges. “This is everything to me. If I failed, I-”

“Hey-“ May grabbed both of Peter’s shoulders, spun him back around, and brought her face within inches of his. She planted a soft kiss on his forehead. “No matter what’s in that envelope, you’re going to do great things, Peter Parker. You don’t need the approval of Tony Stark or anyone else in this world to tell you that.” Leaning back, May cocked an eyebrow. “This letter does not define your value as a person or your future. Do you understand me?”

Peter’s shoulders unglued themselves. He nodded at May, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. Tearing open the envelope, Peter yanked out the letter, unfurling it. He felt the silky-smooth material of the paper, like ice on his hands.

With one final push and a slap to the back of the head from May, he opened his eyes and scanned the letter.

     ~  

 Dear Mr. Parker,

 Out of an approximate 62,600 applicants for the 2019 Stark Industries Internship Program, we are pleased to announce that you have been selected for one of our 10 open positions.

 Your dissertation ranking among the applicants was: 1

 As a result of your ranking, we assign Dr. Anthony Stark as your mentor.

 Your date of employment will begin on August 1st, 2019.

 Stark Industries is also pleased to announce that you have been selected as a candidate for a potential Research Grant due to the content of your dissertation:

      “Chemical Tensility for Law Enforcement Officers – Saving Lives with Non-Violent Webbing Deterrent & Spray-On Ballistic Weaving.”  

 Your presence is requested on July 1st, 2019 for a formal panel interview to defend your dissertation from their professional critique.

 Please bring copies of your research notes and have a presentation prepared to share the theory of your study.  You will present your theory to Stark Industries CEO Pepper Stark, Stark Industries CRO Dr. Anthony Stark, Stark Industries Head of Research and Development, Dr. Bruce Banner, as well as nine representatives of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division.

 Please call to confirm your appointment immediately with my secretary, the number is listed on the back of this letter.

 We look forward to hearing from you and finally putting a face to the most exceptional submission Stark Industries has accepted in the last ten years.

 As CEO, I am excited to see what the future holds for you, Mr. Parker.

 Sincerely,

 Pepper Stark, CEO, Stark Industries

     ~  

“Well?!” May broke the silence, trembling in place as she clasped her hands together. “Peter, you’re killing me here! I just turned 40, you can’t play with my heart like this! Do we celebrate or am I heading out to buy us some eggs to throw at that asshole’s car!?”

Peter gulped, mouth finally parting. “I got it,” He cracked.

May’s mouth dropped a mile. “You got it?”

Peter nodded, tears rolling down his face and dribbling over the letter which he handed to May. He started to laugh. “I got the internship AND an interview for a research grant! May, I got both! I got both!”

May read the letter, and after a brief stint of silence, the woman reared her head back and roared in pure joy. She grabbed Peter, lifted him like a small puppy and spun them around in a tight hug. They squealed in unison, as loud as their lungs could manage.

“I got it!”

“You got it!”

“We got it!” They both yelled together, before tripping over Peter’s textbooks. The duo tumbled to the ground in each other arms on a plush beanbag. The letter fluttered down, landing on Peter’s face.

May grabbed the letter, giggling as she scanned the letter, buzzing from head to toe. “I cannot believe it, Peter! Do you realize how many people’s asses you kicked? I am so-” She rose up from the ground, pausing as she hovered over a single sentence. “Uh, Peter-“ She pointed to a paragraph in the middle. “Sweetheart, this is a “formal” interview.”

Peter rose an eyebrow, taking May’s hand as she helped him up from the floor. “And?”

May laughed, poking at Peter’s chest. “I don’t think your usual wardrobe is going to cut it here. Not even the punny science shirts with the cats on them.”

“Uh-“ Peter turned around, staring into his closet, lined with nothing that even came close to formal. Unless he was going to comic-con, that is... He groaned, shaking his head. “Probably not.”

May set the letter aside, folding her arms. “You’ll need a suit and tie, Peter. Which, unfortunately, is not going to be in either of our budgets.” She bit her lip, eyes staring outside of Peter’s room and down the hallway.

“I’ll call down to Mr. Lee’s pizza place!” Peter ran to his cache of take-out menus, digging through them. “Stan always needs delivery boys, I can save up and find a suit somewhere cheap!”

“Peter, your interview is next week, and suits are expensive. You’d need more than one week's paycheck to afford it, and Stan can only afford part-time. Besides the fact that tips around here are the absolute worst!” May huffed, planting on a pained smile. “Besides, you need time to prepare a presentation. That, and figure out how you’re not going to pass out in front of Tony Stark the instant you meet him.”

Peter frowned, glancing down at the menu. “Then… Should I rent one?” He cringed at the idea, recalling how expensive it’d been at Prom. They’d both had to save for that expense well ahead of time as well.

Taking Peter’s hand, May guided Peter down the hallway. “I think… I’ve got a better idea.”

They stopped at the furthest end of their apartment, to a spare closet neither of them dared to open. A mausoleum of sorts, untouched for almost 8 years now. May sighed, opened it, revealing a wall of plastic totes on one side. The other filled with several well-preserved NYPD uniforms, in clear garment bags.

“May-” Peter muttered.

May pulled out boxes and rummaged through the closet’s contents. “I couldn’t bear to throw anything away after Ben passed on. Still can’t. I know it’s not healthy, but my therapist can kiss my ass. I’ll cope how I damn well please.” She sat Ben’s uniforms gently on the ground, careful not to wrinkle them. She reached the far end of the closet. “Besides, I’d always hoped… One of these days, they might come in handy for you.”

May pulled out another clear bag, this one holding a man's suit and tie. She smiled, unzipping the bag and casting its casing away, admiring the outfit. “Ben wore this to every formal event since I started dating him. He took better care of this than he did his own uniform. Said that every man needs at least one good suit.” She handed it to Peter, letting it fall against his hands. “Turns out he was right.”

Peter nodded, gulping as he slid the jacket from the hanger. He slipped into it, watching as the sleeves slid well past his wrists. Too big in the chest, the suit engulfed him, as the tails of the coat went well past his waist. At least a size and a half too big.

“A little big on you…” May sighed, trying to tuck the suit in at key places, wiping away a tear as she laughed. “I’ll do what I can to help you with the fit, and we can fake it’s a better fit than it actually is. You won’t be able to sit without a needle in your ass, but, hey, women deal with that bullshit all the time in fashion. Welcome to my world, bucko!”

Peter chuckled, letting May help him out of the jacket. “Uncle Ben had some big shoes to fill. A big suit, too, apparently.”

“You’ll grow into it.” May hung the suit back on the hanger, winking at Peter while she slid it back into the garment bag. “Now, enough of this mopey bullshit. I haven’t cried this much since the funeral, and I’ll be damned if we’re going to ruin your big day with bullshit feelings.”

May gathered her oversized purse from the closet door, the suit, and Peter himself. She dragged them both of them towards the front door. “After we chuck this at the dry cleaners, we’re heading to Mr. Lee’s for pizza and ice cream! We’ll eat like kings and pay like peasants!”

“Two for one date night coupon?” Peter smirked.

“Two for one date night coupon.” May winked.

“Hell yeah!” May and Peter said in unison, high-fiving each other as they exited their apartment.

[monicawoe]

Supernatural fic masterlist

(updated 12/20/2020)

I’ve written over 100 spn fics (ranging from ficlets to 70k big-bangs). Most of them are Sam-centric, largely featuring powers!Sam. The whole collection can be found here on AO3

newest fics:

Closer Than You Think - Five times Sam’s eyes were demonic, and one time they weren’t. (3k words, boyKingSam AUs of multiple eps)

Behold the Beast, Behold the Lamb - Season 4 AU.  Sam tried to free Dean from Hell, but angels intervened and took Dean for their own purposes. Sam is determined to get Dean back and will do whatever it takes, embracing his abilities fully. The more demon blood Sam drinks, the more demons he kills, the more he changes inside and out until it’s impossible to hide his monstrous side. Ruby, Uriel and Castiel push Sam to fulfill his destiny and become his true self—the Beast of the Revelation. (gen, Sam/Ruby, 20k words; featuring art by @quickreaver​)

Hellbound - Sam is in Hell, and then he isn't. He's standing on a sidewalk with a stranger looking back at him—a stranger that has his face. My 2020 spn-summergen fic! Featuring soulless!Sam, disembodied soul-Sam and amnesiac Dean. (gen, 8k)

Sin Eater - Sam has a different plan to cure demon Dean, but Dean doesn't want to be cured. (Sam drinking blood from demon!Dean, written for @quickreaver​ for her artwork Bitumen Kiss)

Best Self - written for @alyndra9​​  for the prompt: King of Hell Sam meets Kale!Sam and they have many differences of opinion to work out. (aka the only one who knows what Sam really wants is Sam.) words by monicawoe banner by @quickreaver​​! (~4k words, Sam/Sam)

All You Have Is Your Fire - written for @quickreaver​ for the 2020 Supernatural Spring Fling  Dean has known fire all his life. Sometimes it sounds like his brother. (~2k words; gen)

Tear You Apart - written for @wetsammywinchester​ who wanted Soulless!Sam/Brady & Soulless!Sam taking on the mantle of King of Hell:  Sam doesn’t want his soul back. He resurrects Brady who helps him figure out a way to outsmart Death: by damaging his soul so it can’t be reintegrated. With Brady’s help, Sam reclaims his power, and takes his soul apart one piece at a time. (8k words; Soulless!Sam/Brady)

Prayers Answered - written for the boy king Sam discord server prompt: Sam has grown up in a very religious environment. He's devoted, he goes to church, he prays. He knows that God is with him, because he listens to his prayers. But as Sam grows older, he realizes it's not God that's been listening. And he realizes that he's not asking - he's been ordering, and his loyal servants would never deny their King. (2k words; gen)

On His Head a Crown - written for the 2019-2020 SWBB, art by @slytherkins​ Hunters drug Sam, force-feed him demon blood, and bring him to where they’ve captured Brady. Brady tells Sam he knows how to stop the Apocalypse, and Sam, despite his better judgment, hears him out: Sam himself is the horsemen Conquest—aka the Antichrist—and he alone can bring Lucifer’s apocalypse to a grinding halt. Sam resists, but when he discovers the good he can do with his new powers, he decides to use them to atone for all his past mistakes.   (21k, Sam/Brady, gen, AU of 5x03-5x04)

Many more under the cut

Lakeside Fishing - written for @denugis​ - After defeating Famine, after days of suffering through demon blood withdrawal in the panic room, Sam needs time to clear his head. Early in the morning, he heads to a small lake seeking solitude, but instead finds an unexpected ally. (4k words; Sam/Patrick; set after My Bloody Valentine; witch!Sam)

His Soul to Keep - art by @sketchydean​​ - written for the SPN Eldritch Bang horror event - Dean’s deal is coming due soon. When he finds out from Ruby that Hell will turn him into a demon, he refuses to accept it, even though he can already feel pieces of his soul starting to crumble away. Sam is his only anchor to the world, and Dean finds it harder and harder to leave his side.    After Broward County, after watching Dean die a thousand deaths, Sam decides he’s not going to let Dean go to Hell. He’ll do whatever it takes, even if that means allying himself with Ruby and using the darkness inside of him. Sam casts a soul-binding spell on Dean; they might not be able to break the deal, but they can change who Dean’s soul belongs to. (13k, Sam/Dean, hard-gen, AU of season 3))

Last Drop - art by @quickreaver​ -written for the Twisted Tropes event - Sam/Brady AU set while Sam’s at Stanford:  Sam is slowly adjusting to his new life at Stanford University. He’s left his life of hunting behind, and traded it for endless studying and tests, but he’s plagued by dreams of Dean and Dad in danger, dreams of blood and violence. Then he meets Tyson Brady, who’s always there with a smile and a cup of coffee to get Sam through all-nighters. Sam’s dreams start to fade, but just as he’s getting used to a nice normal life, he starts to develop abilities—powers he can’t control. Brady thinks they’re great, but Sam knows power never comes without a cost. (14k, Sam/Brady)

Make Angels of Us All - art by @amberdreams1960​  - Sam has a guardian angel. It’s been with him his whole life, trying to keep him safe. The angel gives Sam power he can’t control: power to move things with his mind, power over fire, and wings that nobody else can see—bony and jagged with scaly feathers. Dean says monsters aren't real, but Dad thinks they are. Sam's power scares him, and he’s not always sure what's real, but what he does know is people keep trying to kill the three of them, and he won't let that happen. (~20K, gen)

Burdens, Doublefold - cowritten with @quickreaver​, art by ileliberte What if Dean left Sam at Stanford after the fire, hoping it would keep his little brother safe and make things better? Somehow, 'better' never seems to be in the Winchester Family cards. Sam gets tangled up with his ex-roommate Brady, tracking psychics, but dealing with demons is never honest business. Dean carries on until his father is put in grave danger. He is left on his own to deal, stumbling into Harvelle's Roadhouse for help, where Dean gets just a little more than he bargained for. Eventually, the brothers’ paths twist and turn their way back to each other, but the results could mean the End of Days. (67k, gen, AU of seasons 1-2)

Before the One You Serve When Dean comes to get Sam at Stanford, he finds him living with Brady. And Dean doesn't trust Brady, even though he can't quite put his finger on why. Not at first. (5k, Sam/Brady)

He Who Fights Monsters - cowritten with nwspaprtaxis, art by @quickreaver​ AU of the summer between Seasons 3 and 4. Dean's dead, dragged down kicking and screaming to Hell. Sam's not dealing well. And Ruby’s got her work cut out for her. (52K, Sam/Ruby)

John Winchester is Dead They say those Winchester boys're crazy. Drive around in a big black beast and drink too much and laugh about mean things. They say their daddy's worse, but you never see him. He's just a voice on the other end of the phone or a darker shape in the back seat of their dark car. They say John Winchester died two years ago. (2k, gen, horror)

Breathing, Talking, Dead Man Walking   -  John Doe, male, approximately thirty-seven years old. Subject was found by EMTs in close proximity to the site of a sizable explosion in Lebanon, Kansas. (2k, gen, Sam & Dean)

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - featuring art by @quickreaver​ When Sam opened Lucifer’s Cage, the only thing he found inside was Lucifer’s grace – his grace. With the return of his grace, Sam remembered his past – his war against the Host, his Fall, and his plans to bring about the End. The thing is…he doesn’t want the Apocalypse anymore. He likes things the way they are, and tries everything to keep his identity a secret- especially from Dean. Of course, the four Horsemen, Hell and Heaven have other ideas. (13K, gen)

The Last Days in the Land of Nod - comic adaptation by @quickreaver​ The year is 2014. The Devil is wearing his finest, the Angel is human, and the Brother protects the survivors at Camp Chitaqua.

The Two Ravens - art by @quickreaver​ Your brother he is, and heir to my throne. He’ll feed on the damned and he'll turn them to bone. (4k; fairy-tale)

Counteroffer About two weeks after Sam gutted a hellhound, completing the first trial, he started acting weird. (5k, psychological horror, gore)

Pattern Recognition: A Hannibal/Supernatural fusion AU  -  Sam and Dean split after River Pass, and their confrontation with the Horseman, War. Since Will’s escape from the Baltimore Institute for the Criminally Insane, he and Sam have been in hiding. They have a cabin, in the middle of nowhere, that keeps them off the radar; they find comfort in each other. But they can’t stay off the chessboard forever, especially not when Lucifer, wearing Hannibal Lecter as a vessel, is tearing the world apart around them. (33k, Sam Winchester/Will Graham)

Impala's Run - cowritten with @quickreaver, art by adrenalineshots Sam and Dean Singer (aka Winchester) aren’t your average young Kansas farmers. Their home is very, very far from Kansas, in fact. Many light-years worth of ‘far’. The boys may look human, but certain talents set them apart: Dean speaks the language of machines, and Sam can heal through manipulating energy. Hidden on Earth by their father, their agricultural lifestyle gets rocked when warring alien races discover where they’ve landed, and Sam and Dean are forced to make the run of their lives. (23k, gen)

All Our Wrath and Cutting Beauty - art by @quickreaver - Sam killed Alistair, but not before Alistair reminded Dean of who and what he’d become in Hell. Dean knows Sam can take down Lilith, and he’ll make damn sure Sam gets strong enough to do just that. They’ll stop the Apocalypse – together, no matter how many bodies stack up, or how much blood is spilt.(11k, horror) 

Diary of a Madman -Lydia’s newest patient, Sam Winchester, suffered from hallucinations, delusions, and regular bouts of insomnia. He also thought he was Lucifer. (4k, gen, horror)

Some other bundled links, for your convenience

Demon-blood Sam

King of Hell Sam

Powers!Sam

Horror

Crossovers & Fusion ‘verses

Hannibal|SPN

SPN/Preacher

SPN/Hannibal/MCU